Dates: Course begins Monday 7 March 2016
Course fee: £2,000
Led by award-winning author of the Darcy Burdock series and Lorali, Laura Dockrill, this playful and inventive course will encourage your seed of an idea for a children’s book to grow, flourish and thrive.
Over twelve weeks of workshops, one-on-one tutorials and lots of writing, you can explore your narrative voice for young people and develop your story. At the end of the course students can expect to achieve complete chapters, clear plot arcs and rounded wholesome characters.
The aim of the course is to create a comfortable, supportive and fun environment to play and stretch out new ideas and get feedback too. The once-a-week meetings will intend to keep pace and momentum, inviting writers of all stages of the process to be brave and tell the story that they’ve always wanted to… Or, of course, find a new story altogether!
This course is aimed at developing larger pieces of work for middle-grade readers and upwards (a novel that a child could read independently, for example writers and books such as; Jacqueline Wilson, Roald Dahl, Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Hunger Games and Twilight).
If you’re interested in signing up for How to write childrens fiction and would like more information please email masterclasses.support@theguardian.com or contact us on +44 (0) 20 3353 3099 between 9.30am and 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. If you’d like us to contact you, please click here and tell us what time works best for you.
Course programme
Week 1: Well done, you are here! - Monday 7 March
Participants are invited to talk about their previous writing experience (although this is not necessary), their personal aims for the course and what they hope to achieve. Attendees can also bring writing along with them to share or reference material (books they like for inspiration) and talk though any grassroots ideas (of any stage) they have.
Week 2: Finding your writing voice - Monday 14 March
Finding your writing voice for younger readers is the biggest challenge of all. The way young people speak changes all the time, their language constantly evolving. The best way is through memory. For the next few weeks writers will be encouraged to find their writing voice to find the little child within themselves and conjure up their own natural tone through a series of short practical writing exercises eg. a walk to school.
Week 3: Bedrooms, part 1 - Monday 21 March
Using maps that we’ve created to ignite memory, writers will ‘re-visit’ their own bedrooms when they were young, aiming to resurrect their personality.
Easter break
Week 4: Bedrooms, part 2 - Monday 4 April
Writers will now be encouraged to create a new bedroom for their own fictional character. Having fun with humour, magical qualities, location and time.
Week 5: Who are you and why are you in my head? - Monday 11 April
Get to know your character. Through an interview/Q&A session between you and your character, writers will individually have to understand the interests, likes, dislikes, dreams and worries of their characters. People, young people in particular, know what they like and what they don’t. Ensuring our characters are 3D and wholesome, we will spend some time through writing getting to know our characters (yes, even if they are an alien or a zebra or a mermaid - they still need a personality.)
Week 6: All the scary w’s: when, what, who, why, where? - Monday 18 April
Thrashing out ideas, we will plant our characters in their scenes, settings and scenarios. Building a landscape, writers can create new worlds and explore territories of their new fictional discovery. Why this story? Why this world?
Week 7: Pockets - Monday 25 April
Writers will place something interesting in the pocket of their character that will lead to an exciting adventure, plot change, a new place.
Week 8: BFF’S and BAES - Monday 2 May
In every good children’s book there is a friend, a glimmer of hope at the end of the rainbow. And sometimes it has to get worse before it can get improve. No matter what, a protagonist needs a pal to get them through. Sometimes this friendship is not always a human, but an animal, an imaginary friend, a shadow or even an inanimate object. We will spend some time creating these and their relationship to your character.
Week 9: Trolls and monsters - Monday 9 May
With light, must come dark. What opposing threats are there for your character? Whether it’s a scary Miss Trunchbull or just school altogether, together we will build our obstacle.
Week 10: Writing time and one-to-one tutorials - Monday 16 May
Week 11: Q&A with a secret special visitor - Monday 23 May
Week 12: AGHHHHH- HELP ME - No, don’t worry you’ll be fine - Monday 30 May
Reading, sharing, feedback and what on EARTH to do next…
Profile of the course tutor
Laura Dockrill is a writer, illustrator and performance poet whose work includes the much-loved Darcy Burdock books for children. Named one of the top ten literary talents by The Times, Laura’s energy and enthusiasm shines through in both her writing and teaching style. Find out more about Laura on her website.
Assessment
Writers who successfully complete the course will receive a successful completion certificate from UEA, which will be made on the basis of ongoing assessment and a final submission of at least3,000 words.
Timings and specifics
The course will have places for 12 participants who will meet for one three-hour session per week (6.30pm - 9.30pm) for a period of three months at the Guardian Building, 90 York Way, Kings Cross, London N1 9GU.
Refunds
Refunds will not be given to students who miss sessions or drop out of the course once the full fee has been paid.
More information
If you would like more information about the course or have any questions please email masterclasses.support@theguardian.com or contact us on +44 (0) 20 3353 3099 between 9.30am and 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. If you’d like us to contact you, please click here and tell us what time works best for you.
