Master the art of writing for children with an expert tutor.
Key information
Start date: Multiple dates available Duration: 6 weeks
Format: online No. of students: 12 (max)
Learn where to turn to, to find inspiration.
You’ll learn how to turn a simple premise into a full-length story for children; how to develop your voice, build recognisable worlds, and create unforgettable characters. By the end of this course you will know exactly what children’s publishers and agents are looking for; and you’ll have the tools you need to begin creating compelling stories for a young readership.
Book the ‘Writing for Children’ Course
An online course designed to give you the essential tools needed to write compelling stories for children. Perfect for beginners.
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Brian Keaney
Brian Keaney has written 20 novels for young people which have been translated into 13 languages. He worked for many years as an English teacher, and that was when he became interested in writing for young people.
For him, writing for children is one of the most important jobs on the planet. “Without children’s authors there would be no new readers and the whole community of literature would slowly begin to collapse and die.”
This ‘Writing for Children’ course is designed for beginners who are keen to get to grips with the wonderful world of writing for children. Children’s fiction may look easy at first glance – but a lot of skill goes into creating that sense of ease.
We’ll show you how children’s fiction works and give you the essential tools you need to ensure you produce compelling stories for a young audience. If you’ve always wanted to write for children, but felt daunted by the challenge, this is the course for you.
Week 1 – Finding inspiration
Do children’s books deal with different emotions, ideas and storylines from books for adults? If so, how can adult writers access those areas? Where can they find inspiration? In week one we’ll look at ways of drawing on material from your own childhood and how you can learn to see the world from a child’s perspective.
Week 2 – Developing a premise
Stories seldom appear fully-formed in a writer’s head – you have to create them. This starts with a premise. But what exactly is a premise? In week two we take a look at what is considered to be the foundation stone of a good story and we ask what kind of premise is particularly suitable for a children’s novel.
Week 3 – Creating characters
Children’s identities are not as fixed as those of adults. They are still deciding what kind of people they want to be. The characters in children’s stories reflect this. They change, develop and grow as the story progresses. This week we will look at how you can make your characters boldly-drawn, convincing and able to grow like real people.
Week 4 – Building a world
Why do so many successful children’s writers completely remove their characters from the everyday world? Because it allows so much more scope for the imagination. In your own world you make the rules so the stakes can be as high or as low as you like. In week four we’ll discuss techniques for visual description and world-building used by writers of fantasy and historical stories.
Week 5 – Choosing a voice
What makes J K Rowling so successful? A lot of things, obviously, but right at the top of the list is her voice. It’s pitch perfect. Some people can do this naturally, others have to learn. In week five we look at the kinds of voices used by successful children’s writers and how you can find one that suits you and plays to your strengths.
Week 6 – Understanding the market
Which is better – trying to be original or trying to fit into an established slot in the market? How do you know what the market is going to do next, anyway? In the final week of the course we will consider how the world of children’s publishing works from the inside; what publishers are really looking for, and how to make them take you seriously.
All course content, including videos, exercises, tasks and reading lists, will be uploaded to the course platform on the same day each week. You’ll be able to have full access to all that content permanently, so there’s plenty of time for you to fit the course around your everyday life. Each week, you will be set a ‘homework’ task to be completed by the following week if you can (but if you can’t, just let your tutor know – they’ll understand!) This homework will enable your fellow students and your tutor to give you feedback on your writing.
The course platform is easy-to-use, friendly and yours to access whenever is most convenient for you. We suggest dedicating a minimum of three hours a week to the course, but like anything – the more you put into it, the more you get out!
Many of our learners leave courses having made life-long friends and a clear idea where to take their writing. Just take look at a few of the testimonials below.
Children’s Picture Books 
Build a strong underlying story structure