What’s happening in the image above? At first it might seem a bit of a mystery, but it’s from the set of a new online broadcasting outfit in Ireland called WritersWebTV. And if you’re an aspiring crime writer, you might want to investigate. On Wednesday 30 October from 10:00 to 16:00 GMT, WritersWebTV will be holding a free online workshop dedicated to the topic of crime fiction.

Entitled Crime Pays: Writing Crime Fiction, the programme will be streaming live with input from top Irish crime authors including Ken Bruen, creator of the Jack Taylor series. He’ll be talking about writing hook lines as well as character development across a series of novels. The basics of narrative and plotting will be extolled by Jane Casey (pictured right), the author of the Maeve Kerrigan series, while Declan Hughes will be along to lend his advice on planning your book and finding new sources of inspiration. Niamh O’Connor is one of Ireland’s leading crime journalists and she’ll share her tips on research.

Previously, WritersWebTV has run a workshop on writing for the YA market, and on Saturday 9 November there will be a workshop on how to get published. To find out more and to enroll for the 30 October webcast, click here.