Quay Words short writing course ‘Writing Crime Fiction’ with Martyn Waites

Are you a budding crime fiction author? Maybe you fancy giving it a go. Maybe you’re well on the way to finishing your first novel. Whatever stage you’re at, this is the course for you.

Taking place once a week over five evenings and covering narrative structure, characterisation, themes, dialogue, atmosphere this course will explore all aspects of creating crime fiction. Key contemporary practitioners will be studied and discussed (there may even be input from the writers themselves) and exercises set.

Ongoing work will be discussed and critiqued in a collaborative, encouraging environment, and ultimately the course will build into an essential toolkit for crafting narrative crime fiction.

The course will be taught and facilitated by Martyn Waites who is an award-winning, highly acclaimed crime novelist with over twenty five years experience of writing and teaching.

This course takes place on Thursday evenings, 6.30-8.30pm 7th, 14th, 28th July, 4th, 11th August (consecutive weeks with one week break on 21st July).

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We are offering one bursary place for this course, which is available by application only (to customhouse@literatureworks.org.uk) and will be allocated on a first-come, first served basis. The bursary is awarded on the basis of financial need not writing ability. You can find out about how to apply for a bursary, here.

PLEASE NOTE: We are intending for this course to take place in-person at Exeter Custom House. We are still taking precautions to ensure our audiences are protected from Covid 19. For this reason we ask that you please consider wearing a mask when not seated and moving around the building. We will be keeping windows open to ensure good ventilation in the building so you may want to bring an extra layer. Please do not attend Quay Words events if you have symptoms of Covid-19 or are feeling unwell.

We can accommodate free tickets for carers or personal assistants if needed. Please email us on customhouse@literatureworks.org.uk after booking to let us know if you would like to book one of these tickets.

About the tutor

Martyn Waites was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne. He trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama and worked as an actor for many years before becoming a writer. His novels include the critically acclaimed Joe Donovan series set in the North East and The White Room which was a Guardian book of the year. In 2013 he was chosen to write Angel of Death, the official sequel to Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black, and in 2014 won the Grand Prix du Roman Noir for Born Under Punches. He has been nominated for every major British crime fiction award and has also enjoyed international commercial success with eight novels written under the name Tania Carver. He also writes Doctor Who audio adventures for Big Finish. He lives in Exeter.