Murder is Your Business: The Art of Crime Writing with Declan Burke

Course Summary

Hosted by the award-winning author Declan Burke, ‘Murder is Your Business’ will provide the basic tools required to write a crime / mystery novel, incorporating an overview of the various elements of the genre and practical advice on how to begin and develop your work in progress. The course applies to the many sub-genres of the crime genre: mystery fiction, police procedural, domestic noir, the thriller, the private eye / spy novel, hardboiled noir, etc.

Course Outline

‘Murder is Your Business’ breaks down the various elements required to write a crime novel. Referencing classics of the genre – including Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr Ripley, Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep and Mick Herron’s Slough House – those elements include plot and story, character development, setting, language and style, and dialogue, with each session devoted to a particular topic. The course will be conducted in a conversational style, which will allow for regular question-and-answer sessions. Ideally, the participants will put forward work they have previously written, or write during the course, for the purpose of feedback and critique.

Course Outcomes

The participants will take away the tools required to write a crime novel, along with practical advice on how to begin their work, and establish and maintain a writing routine.

Declan Burke is the author of Eightball Boogie (2003), The Big O (2007), Absolute Zero Cool (2011), Slaughter’s Hound (2012), Crime Always Pays (2014), The Lost and the Blind (2014), and The Lammisters (2019). Absolute Zero Cool was shortlisted in the crime fiction section for the Irish Book Awards, and received the Goldsboro Award for Best Humorous Crime Novel in 2012. Eightball Boogie and Slaughter’s Hound were also shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards. Declan is also the editor of Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the 21st Century (2011) and Trouble is Our Business (2016), and the co-editor, with John Connolly, of Books to Die For (2013), which won the Anthony Award for Best Non-Fiction Crime. Declan was a UNESCO / Dublin City Council writer-in-residence for 2017-18. He blogs at Crime Always Pays.

http://crimealwayspays.blogspot.ie/