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A course for anyone who would like to write for children.
We will explore the various markets for children’s books and guidance will be
given on how to aim at a specific market, get an agent and find a publisher. Special
attention will be given to the skills needed to write for children such as vocabulary,
dialogue, creating characters they can identify with and writing for different
age groups. Writing assignments will be set, evaluated and discussed. This course
includes a FREE induction week.
See the Gallery for examples
of work by students on this course.
A list of books by Karen King can be found here.
Student Comments:
"When I signed up for the course, I hoped for some professional feedback
on my work, the chance to interact with other writers and some practical instruction.
I received all this and more. Our instructor has been generous, patient and encouraging,
enabling me to finish the course with a piece of work that is almost ready to
send off to an agent. I have been given useful advice from published authors and
aspiring writers alike, and have made some online friendships with other writers
that will last long after the course itself has ended. This course has been a
complete success for me and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone else."
"I have found this to be an excellent course. It has given me great encouragement
and insight into writing children's fiction. I feel that I have discovered the
genre that I am happy with and I have now got motivation and direction to continue
as a writer."
The tutor: Karen King
Karen King is the author of over eighty children's books.
She writes fiction and non-fiction - including picture books, story books, activity,
joke and puzzle books - for children from pre-school to teens. She also writes
stories, articles and comic strips for children's magazines such as Winnie the
Pooh, Rosie and Jim and Nursery Education. Her published work includes Foul Play
(Hopscotch), Cosmic Whizz Kid (Macdonald) and The Gold Badge (Harpercollins).
Her picture book, I Don't Eat Toothpaste Anymore won the Gold Award for Best Product
(1994) and her Country Companions book, The Birthday Surprise, won the Practical
Parenting Award (1998). Karen has recently started working for the e-publisher
www.storyplus.com and
has two books published online with more in progress. She is currently working
on a series for children aged 8-10. Writing for children is her first love, but
she also writes short stories for women's magazines. Karen holds a HNC in Media,
a City &Guilds Teaching Certificate in Adult Education and is currently studying
on a TEFL course to teach English to foreign students. She also runs writing workshops
for adults and in schools.
For the dates in the table below the course is 10 weeks
including a FREE Induction Week.
XE.com Personal Currency Assistant
Register for this course
| Series |
Starting Date |
Early Bird Booking Deadline
(Price £140) |
Booking Deadline
(Price £160) |
Ending Date |
| 3 |
6th January 2003 |
6th December 2002
|
30th December 2002 |
13th March 2003 |
| 4 |
21st April 2003 |
14th March 2003 |
14th April 2003 |
29th June 2003 |
The aims of this course are:
- Students will develop the basic skills of writing for children.
- Students will be encouraged to embark on a piece of writing for children with
the goal of getting their work published.
- Students will learn how to revise and rewrite their work to a professional
standard.
Contents
Finding time to write, studying the market, getting ideas,
story structure and plot, conflict and pace, vocabulary and language, beating
Writer’s Block, getting the ending right, revising and rewriting, giving your
work a professional look.
Typical Reading
Students will be given useful website addresses such as
www.achuka.com where they can look at a range of reviews of published children’s
books. They will also be encouraged to buy or obtain from the library the Writer’s
and Artist’s Year Book or Writer’s Handbook for a list of publishers, agents and
guidelines. A selection of good children's books will be recommended to borrow
or purchase.
Karen King's Recommended
Reading List for this course (suggestions only, not compulsory).
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course you should:
- Understand the requirements of the children’s publishing market.
- Write a competent children’s story.
- Present your story in a publishable manner.
Typical assessments
- Write a brief study of the different types of books for children.
- Write a story for a researched market.
- Revise the story, ready to send off to a publisher.
Pre-requisites for this course
You will need to:
- be able to use a word processor
- be able to write and understand English reasonably fluently
- be able to use a browser to surf the Web
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