Course Description for

Children's Fiction

with Karen King

Registration Fee and Course Length

Prerequisites

Standard course: $240 / 8 weeks. Click here to register.

No prerequisites.

Course Contacts

Course Description

Children are a wonderful audience to write for. To a child, anything is possible. They will happily devour stories about talking animals, aliens from outer space, friendly ghosts and fantasy worlds over the rainbow, as well as contemporary stories about children like themselves.

However, that doesn't mean they will read anything. The characters must be appealing and believable and the story entertaining enough to sustain their interest right to the end. To write successfully for children you need to be able to do the following three things:

1. First and foremost, as with any genre, you must love writing.
2. You must understand and like children.
3. You must know what children like to read and be able to write in language they can identify with and understand.

Writing for children is not an easy option. There is just as much skill involved in writing a children's book as with writing an adult novel. And there is the additional responsibility that comes with writing for such a young, impressionable audience. Remember, what children read can greatly affect their lives now and in the future.

Lesson 1: Know your market, know your reader: What genre and age group are you writing for? Are there any vocabulary/word length/subject restrictions? Publishers' guidelines.
Assignment: Write a brief study of a modern children's book.

Lesson 2: Imagination and Inspiration: How to get ideas for your stories, beating 'writer's block', brainstorming tips.
Assignment: Write about an argument/conflict you had with someone as a child, or with one of your own children but write about it from the other child's point of view.

Lesson 3: Getting to know your characters. Writing a character profile. Ways to get to know your character. Consistent characterisation.
Assignment: Create a character and write up a character profile for it.

Lesson 4: Planning the story: Working out the story plot, the importance of conflict, which viewpoint to use, setting and atmosphere.
Assignment: Write up your story plot, identifying the main conflict and how it is overcome.

Lesson 5: Story Structure. Making sure the story has a beginning, middle and end. Which viewpoint to use.
Assignment: Assignment: Write EITHER: A story of not more than 2,000 words for children age 5-7 OR the story outline and first 2,000 words of a story for an older age group. State the age group you are aiming at. You have 2 weeks to do this assignment.

Lesson 6: Getting the story down. Writing the first draft. Writing in chapters. Using Flashbacks. First page checklist.
Continue working on previous assignment.

Lesson 7: Making your characters talk. The functions of dialogue, how to use it effectively. When to use 'said'.
Assignment: Revise your story from assignment 5. You have two weeks to do this.

Lesson 8: Rewriting and revising. What to check for. How to know that your work is good enough to send out. The submission procedure. Cover and query letters. Dealing with rejections. What happens once your book is accepted for publication.
Submit final rewrite.

Karen King has been writing children’s books since the mid-eighties. She’s also written for many children's magazines including Sindy, Barbie, Winnie the Pooh and Thomas the Tank Engine. Some of her short stories were featured on Playdays BBC and some of her poems on the BBC One Potato, Two Potato website.

She writes for all ages and in all genres. She’s written more than 100 books including picture books, story books and joke books. Her picture book I Don’t Eat Toothpaste Anymore! won the Gold Award for Best Product and Country Companions:The Birthday Picnic won the Practical Parenting Award.

King's latest books are Dognapped! Sabotage! and Smugglers! (the first three books in the Amy Carter Mysteries series) and Silly Moo! a lift-the flap picture book.

She wrote the ‘Write for Profit using the Internet’ course for The Writer’s Bureau, part of their ‘Writing for Children’ course and the study guide for the ICS ‘Writing for Children’ course.  Her first romance novella has just been published in Large Print.

King has a Certificate in Education and tutors for The Writer’s Bureau. She runs writing workshops for children in schools.