18 World-Class Course Modules: Click the headings below for an overview of each module
Module One: Introduction to Writing Children’s Stories
In Module One, you’ll discover the exciting world of writing for children. You will begin by uncovering the vital ingredients that are present in every single successful children’s book. You’ll discover how to transform your stories from amateur ramblings, into compelling, page-turning children’s fiction. You’ll identify the ‘voice’ to use in your stories and you’ll know how to plan your story like a true professional, before you write a single word. Throughout this module we give you lots of vibrant, hand-picked examples that clearly illustrate each key learning point. You’ll know exactly how to get started and what to do next.
Module Overview
- Introduction to writing children’s stories
- Getting started
- Tips from successful children’s authors
- How JK Rowling became a successful author
- The Three C’s
- The 5 practical elements that produce page-turning fiction
- The planning stage
- How to pitch your story
- Mapping Chapters
- How to create character identities
- How to plan the timing of a Story
- The three major elements of a satisfying piece of fiction
- Setting
- Relationships between characters and settings
- Viewpoint
- Past, present and future tense
- Identifying your ‘voice’.
- How to start the first chapter
- How to create the first draft
- Setting the tone
- Common mistakes most beginners make
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Two: Age Groups & Story Types (click to open)
In no other area of publishing are there as many categories as there are in children’s publishing. By the end of Module Two, you will identify the type of book category that is suitable for you. You will also know the age group of children you will write for and you’ll gain an in-depth understanding of each different type of story. As well as all this, you’ll discover the market research techniques used by professional writers, and we’ll let you in on the mistakes that most amateur writers make, so that you can avoid the pitfalls.
Module Overview
- Choosing the right type of book
- Choosing an age group
- Writing for children under 7
- How to write preschool books
- How to write books for infants
- Writing for 7 – 11 year olds
- Matching vocabulary and plot
- Writing for teens and young adults
- Writing animal stories
- Writing school stories
- Writing sports stories
- Writing historical stories
- Writing adventure stories
- Writing mystery stories
- Creating 3-dimensional villains and heroes
- Writing humor
- Creating weird and wonderful characters
- Writing science fiction and fantasy
- Writing short stories
- Submission guidelines
- Researching your market
- Common mistakes and how to avoid them
- Creating short stories with a twist
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Three: Choosing & Developing Your Setting (click to open)
In Module Three you will uncover expert techniques for choosing and developing your setting. You will also learn the correct way to use the senses in your writing (most beginners get this completely wrong). You’ll also discover the techniques successful children’s writers use for changing the pace of their stories. Finally, you’ll know how to efficiently research and arrange your material like a true pro, before you even put pen to paper. Throughout this module you’ll also be privy to lots of eloquent, hand-picked examples that clearly illustrate each key learning point.
Module Overview
- Choosing and developing your setting
- Writing historical settings
- Using weather and climate
- Authors tool:a weather diary
- Writing effective weather and historical stories
- How to infuse your writing with emotional atmosphere
- Using all the senses
- Changing the pace of your writing
- How to write night time scenes for children
- Using the setting as a backdrop to the action
- Researching like a professional
- Hiring a professional researcher
- Historical research
- Theme parks
- Using press offices
- General reference books
- Setting up a system for your research material
- Writing from your research material
- Common mistakes amateurs make
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Four: Developing Credible Characters (click to open)
More rejections result from weak characterization than from any other reason, but by the end of Module Four you will have learned the little-known, yet easily applicable techniques that best-selling children’s authors use to create and develop characters that are credible, and who can react in a believable way to any situation you put them in. It’s a vital module, packed full of golden nuggets of wisdom. Weak characterization will never again be a problem for you after this comprehensive module.
Module Overview
- Identifying key factors for developing credible characters
- Combining characteristics
- Role reversal
- Unfolding the character
- Show, Don’t Tell
- Four vital elements of characterisation
- Using tags to mark your fictional characters
- Using displacement activity
- Using NLP to develop your characters
- Body language
- Transactional analysis
- Games people play
- Reasons behind actions
- Choosing the right names for your characters
- Syllables
- Heroes and heroines
- Character gaccordion-containerth
- Believability
- The seven deadly sins
- Secondary characters
- Writing with worldwide selling rights in mind
- Market demands
- Common mistakes
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Five: Writing Dialogue (click to open)
The ability to write good dialogue is central to producing readable fiction. It is one of the major elements by which a story can stand or fall. In Module Five you’ll discover everything you need to know about writing powerful dialogue in your children’s stories. You’ll uncover the key ingredients for writing dialogue, the difference between dialogue and real conversation, and you’ll discover professional techniques for expressing locality, delivering humor and much more. You’ll also be privy to lots of carefully chosen, real life examples of good and bad dialogue in children’s fiction today.
Module Overview
- Writing dialogue
- Dialogue and real conversation
- Locality in dialogue
- Regional dialects
- Foreigners
- Sentence structures for foreign characters
- NLP and Dialogue
- Character differentiation
- Distance yourself from your characters
- How often to identify the speaker
- Period dialogue
- Period attitudes
- Humor in dialogue
- How to present dialogue
- Common mistakes
- Lots of practical tips and techniques
- Interactive elements for an enhanced learning experience
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Six: Plotting, Storyline & Theme (click to open)
Plotting is the most important element of story telling, for without a plot you don’t have a story to tell. Many amateur children’s writers end up with weak or implausible plots that make their readers give up, with loath or frustration. By the end of Module Six you will know the secrets of crafting plots that suck your readers into your story and keep them turning the pages. In this module, we cover plot, theme and storyline in considerable depth, while providing lively examples throughout. You will also discover effective techniques for building climax and much more.
Module Overview
- Plotting your story
- Storyline
- Theme
- What is a plot
- Stories for the under eight year olds
- Make your story plausible
- Looking closely at your ideas
- The creative process of writing
- Spider diagrams
- Change of pace
- Using ‘Think Pieces’
- Security
- Reality in fiction
- Building climaxes
- Always deliver
- Character identification
- Endings
- Prospecting for ideas
- Using your notes
- Inspiration from other writers work
- Common mistakes – using clichés
- Lots of practical tips and techniques
- Interactive elements for an enhanced learning experience
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Seven: Writing Picture Books for Children (click to open)
A common misconception among beginner writers is that writing picture books for children is an easy place to start. This is a big mistake! The simplicity of the text, which makes picture books so easy to read, is the result of careful writing and a deep understanding of the purpose of these books and the abilities of the children reading them. In Module Seven, we will immerse you in the world of writing for the Under 7’s. By the end of this extensive module, you will have gained vital industry knowledge, along with the skills and techniques you need to become a highly proficient picture book writer.
Module Overview
- Writing for the Under Sevens
- The rewards
- The development of language – the early months of a baby’s life
- The development of language – from 3 years on
- The development of language – age 4 and upwards
- Linking technical factors and age requirement
- Adding suspense
- Familiar topics
- Reading schemes
- Avoid the abstract
- Repetition
- The over-fives
- Worldwide sales and political correctness
- Using animals
- Working with illustrators
- Producing artwork
- Illustrations for non-fiction books
- The front cover
- The sales department
- Common mistakes
- Lots of practical tips and techniques
- Interactive elements for an enhanced learning experience
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Eight: Writing for Seven to Twelve Year Olds (click to open)
In this fascinating module, you’ll gain a deep understanding of the key success factors needed when writing for 7 – 12 year olds. We’ll reveal the 67-year-old formula still used by the world’s best children’s writers today, and we’ll reveal a myriad of essential tips and techniques. You’ll discover the words to use to dramatize your stories, how to inject action and emotion, how to get the pace of your story just right, how to apply sub-plots and how and when to include humor. Plus, we’ll cover a wide variety of themes from giants, witches and wizards, horror stories, to pet stories and much, much more.
Module Overview
- Writing for seven to twelve year olds
- How long should your book be?
- The market place
- Illustrations for seven to twelve year olds
- Details of the modern world
- Humour
- Justice and revenge
- Adventure
- Witches and wizards
- Social and environmental issues
- History
- Keeping up the pace
- Actions and emotions
- Showing relationships
- Weaving the strands of a story
- Coincidences
- Sub-plots
- Children’s books and gender
- Archetypal baddie and the wolf
- Horror stories
- Pet themes
- Common mistakes – lecturing your readers
- Lots of practical tips and techniques
- Interactive elements for an enhanced learning experience
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Nine: Writing Young Adult Fiction (click to open)
Of all the divisions of writing for children, teenage fiction books are possibly the most difficult. In this comprehensive module, you will get a masterclass in writing young adult fiction. You’ll discover how to invoke powerful emotional experiences within your young adult reader and learn how to connect with them on a psychological level. We’ve also handpicked perfect fitting examples to show you how today’s biggest selling young adult fiction writers create cliffhangers, structure their writing, add specific techniques to create suspense, and use euphonic words to create the reaction they desire from their readers.
Module Overview
- Writing for teenagers
- Market research
- Themes
- Applying the standard rules
- Suspense
- Mysteries and thrillers
- How to create cliff-hangers
- Planting the seeds of doubt
- Red herrings
- Letting your teenage characters solve the mysteries
- Keeping readers guessing
- Romance
- Settings for romantic stories
- Teenagers 3, rest of world 0
- The teenagers world
- Boy meets girl
- The role of music in teenagers’ lives
- Teenage magazine fiction
- Settings
- The confession story
- Common mistakes:showing off
- Lots of practical tips and techniques
- Interactive elements for an enhanced learning experience
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Ten: Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction for Children (click to open)
In Module Ten you will take off the shackles of realism and let your imagination run free, as we delve into the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy. As you progress through this captivating module, you will learn how to structure your science fiction and fantasy stories correctly. You will use practical techniques to build your own worlds, as well as name and populate entire planets with plants, alien creatures, and futuristic gadgetry. You’ll discover where and how to research your facts to ensure believability and attain extraordinary attention to detail. You’ll learn how to keep your reader hooked and how to create interesting and subtle twists on already well-used science fiction plots and much more.
Module Overview
- Writing fantasy and science fiction
- Setting
- How to build a new world:mountains, swamps and caves
- Techniques for naming and populating a new world
- Techniques for naming plants
- Techniques for naming alien creatures
- Fantasy
- Fantasy folk stories
- Good versus evil in modern settings
- Ultra modern fantasies
- Fantasy for the youngest readers
- Fantasy for the middle-age-band readers
- Dungeons and dragons
- The battle between good and evil
- Science fiction
- Social organisation
- Time travel
- Alien worlds and creatures
- Science fiction research
- Religion and morals in other worlds
- Device names
- Lots of practical tips and techniques
- Interactive elements for an enhanced learning experience
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Eleven: Writing Non-Fiction for Children (click to open)
In Module 11, you’re going to learn everything you need to know about writing non-fiction for children. You’ll discover the little-known writing techniques that are very specific to children’s non-fiction books (ignore this at your peril). You’ll learn about the different types of non-fiction. You’ll discover how to identify a market to write for, and which non-fiction subjects attract the most interest from publishers. This module is packed full of vital tips, and inside knowledge, along with colorful examples of successful non-fiction books throughout.
Module Overview
- Writing non-fiction
- Ready-made market
- Other information books
- Other non-fiction books
- Information books format
- Payment
- Working with a team
- Proposal and outline
- Sample chapters
- Biographies
- Research
- Quotations
- Techniques
- Tables
- Religion
- Gender
- Characters and non-fiction
- Non-fiction for magazines
- Payment
- Multi-media – storybook apps
- Lots of practical tips and techniques
- Interactive elements for an enhanced learning experience
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Twelve: Writing Drama and Screenplays for Children (click to open)
Ever fancied yourself as a playwright? In this eye-opening module we’re going to reveal how you can convert your children’s stories or ideas into successful stage productions, TV shows, and radio plays. We’ll reveal the playwriting techniques and considerations that are specific to children, the hidden pitfalls you need to be aware of, and the common mistakes almost all beginners make. We’ll walk you through the entire process from start to finish, including the all-important step of presenting your final script for success. It’s packed with real-life examples throughout and much more.
Module Overview
- Writing for other media
- Financial rewards
- Professional theatre
- Agents and fees
- Dialogue
- Pace and action
- Plays for radio
- Production costs and you, the writer
- Drama for television
- Script changes
- Costs
- The techniques of play writing
- The function of the driver
- The stages of planning
- Acts
- Scenes
- Segments
- Beats
- Writing for puppet theatres
- Book adaptations for radio or television
- Writing picture strips for magazines
- Subjects
- Copyright
- Early years
- Older children and teenagers
- Each frame
- Editing
- Romantic picture strips
- Contracts for dramatic works
- Presenting your script
Sample Screenshots
Module Thirteen: Writing Secrets of Successful Children’s Authors (click to open)
How is it that some writers produce successful book after book, yet others take years to write their first manuscript? In this module we’ll deconstruct the writing secrets of some of the world’s most successful authors and uncover the strategies and productivity routines they use to achieve levels of success most children’s writers only dream about. You’ll learn how to finally overcome procrastination and avoid the distractions that stop you becoming the success you can be, and much more. Brimming with tips and golden nuggets of wisdom specific to writing for children.
Module Overview
- Your work place
- The importance of ritual
- Work routine
- The power of discipline
- Overcoming procrastination
- Helpful devices
- Writing methods
- Developing a good style
- Create unusual images
- Revision and renewed viewing
- First drafts
- Stages of revision
- Second draft
- Word editing
- The final proof read
- A lesson in general grammar
- Titles
- Working titles
- Non-fiction book titles
- Check out working timetable
- Joining a writers’ group
- Common mistakes – overly manipulating characters and events
- Coping with rejection
- Lots of practical tips and techniques
- Interactive elements for an enhanced learning experience
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Fourteen: Insider’s Guide to Getting Published (click to open)
So, you’ve finally written your first children’s story, now what? In Module Fourteen, we’ll walk you through the entire process of getting your book published, step-by-step. By the end of this module, you’ll know how to submit your manuscript correctly (so that it actually gets read by the publisher). We’ll guide you around the common pitfalls that most newbies fall into. We’ll show you how to work with editors and agents, how to negotiate the best deal for yourself and we’ll reveal the red flags to watch out for. We’ll also coach you through how to turn a sole-destroying rejection letter into a positive experience and much, much more. This is a vital module that will quickly convert you from rank amateur to respected author.
Module Overview
- Preparing manuscripts for submission
- Submitting your manuscript
- Working with publishers
- Attitude
- Practical solutions
- The offer
- The expert team
- Marketing your book
- Author’s questionnaire
- Marketing – your responsibility
- Publishers contracts and negotiation
- Literary agents
- Track record
- Merchandising agents
- Proposals and outlines for non-fiction books
- The proposal
- The outline
- Publishers’ specific formats
- The covering letter
- Common mistakes – non-fiction books
- Royalties
- Copyright, moral right and public lending right
- Trusting publishers
- Common mistakes – publishers’ requirements
- Common mistakes – vanity publishing
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Fifteen: Introduction to Self-Publishing (click to open)
Module Overview
- The hybrid author
- Why become a hybrid author
- From one-man publisher to mainstream
- Your choices
- Getting published quickly
- The personal family book
- How a hybrid author self-publishes
- Creating a blockbuster book title
- The good and the bad
- Titles for the Early Years (pre-school)
- Sounds of words
- Titles for 5 – 7 years (first time read-alone)
- The tool of the trade
- Comfort and rhythm words
- Juxtaposition
- Slightly naughty words
- Titles for 7+ or 8-11 years
- The middle reader age group
- Making the genre evident
- The tone
- The top mistake to avoid
- A winning method for writing a title
- More sophisticated readers
- Titles for 12 years and teen reads
- Titles for young adults 14+
- Creating a blockbuster non-fiction title
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Sixteen: Cover Design & Working with Illustrators (click to open)
Module Overview
- Creating a blockbuster book cover
- A trick for designing a blockbuster book cover
- Cover designs for digital printing
- Short run book production
- Book cover design of fiction for the Early Years
- Book cover design of fiction for 5+ and 7+
- Book cover design of fiction for 8 – 11 years
- Book cover design of fiction for 11+ and young teens
- Book cover design of fiction for young adults 14+
- Book cover design of non-fiction titles
- A keen eye
- A good exercise
- Working with an illustrator
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Seventeen: Digital Printing & e-book Essentials (click to open)
Module Overview
- The hybrid author and on-the-target marketing
- The Inside Story
- The ISBN question in the new world of publishing
- Who is the publisher?
- A global look at ISBN’s
- Technical info
- Creating blockbuster interiors
- Special story design for children’s books
- Your book is complete
- Print on demand
- The exciting world of eBooks
- Publishing to Kindle
- Publishing to other devices
- How to create PDF files for printing and downloading
- Self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
Module Eighteen: Effective Self-Marketing (click to open)
Module Overview
- Marketing children’s books for worldwide sales
- Building a reader fan base
- Your blog
- Making it easy-peasy
- How to add personality
- Powerful links
- A strong hook can sell your book
- Extra tips for the adventurous
- Audio books
- Video books
- YouTube
- Making a video or book trailer
- YouTube and extra income
- Post Script
- Final self-assessment test
- Much more!
Sample Screenshots
After completing this course I wrote my first novel and had it published! I just wanted to share my success story with you, and say thank you so much for this course – Write Story Books For Children – which was a huge help and inspiration when I first started writing.
I had done other courses before and none were as informative or as easy to digest as this one. After completing the course, it took me three years to write (and re-write, re-write, re-write) my first novel, and I went back to the course modules several times over the years as a source of support.
I’m so pleased to tell you that my first novel was published (Young Adult Thriller- The Burning of Juniper Slaide) and on the back of its success, I have been offered a publishing deal with a traditional publisher (Rudling House) for two trilogies. My novel currently has 30 5* reviews on Amazon.co.uk and counting.
I have my first book signing event at Waterstones in Guildford, Surrey, in October. And I’m now busy finishing my second novel- and I’ve just logged back into your course to check something! So, thank you, so very much for providing a course which is full of essential information and nothing else, in simple language, beautifully presented, and without pretension.