Start a children’s book in 5 weeks with Jenny Pearson
Thinking of writing a book for children or teens?
Join WriteMentor’s online WriteStart course, for anyone starting a new story. Over five weeks, author Jenny Pearson, Costa Children’s Book Award shortlistee, will guide you away from a blank page towards the first spark of an idea. With her support, build up your confidence to enter the wonderful world of writing.
Learn the building blocks of writing a children’s book
This course is ideal for complete beginners who want to finish a novel but are yet to pick up a pen. It would also suit experienced writers looking to refresh the basic building blocks of writing.
Start your children’s book with confidence
If mistakes are learning points, Jenny has made many, many learning points that she is happy to share with you. With her help, gain the tools, tricks and tips to make your novel a belter. She will also offer feedback on any piece of writing (1000 words).
So start your story with the confidence that you know what you’re doing.
NB: this course will take place on Zoom (video) with notes and updates posted to Slack.
Course summary
Time: 8pm to 9pm (GMT)
Date: See courses page
Frequency: Once a week
Platform: Zoom
Course outline
WEEK ONE: Adjectives and Adverbs aren’t always your adversaries
Demystifying some of the terms in writing and publishing. Take a look at some good kids’ books and what you can learn from them as an introduction to writing children’s fiction.
WEEK TWO: What even is a child? What do they like? There’s rules? What rules?
An insight into how kids experience stories. Chat about tense, point of view, narrative voice and other techniques.
WEEK THREE: Who’s your Luke Skywalker?
How to write a character that kids will care about. Explore wants and needs and writing authentic dialogue.
WEEK FOUR: Can’t I just sit down and smash it out?
A look at story structure and planning so you don’t write yourself into a great big mess and end up crying in the corner. There’s stuff your story must include, I shall tell you about it.
WEEK FIVE: Can I start writing a children’s book already?
Yes! But before you do, let’s skip straight to the end. Find out how having an idea of how your book ends will make writing from the beginning so much easier.
About the course leader
Jenny Pearson has been awarded with six mugs, one fridge magnet, one wall plaque and numerous cards for her role as ‘Best Teacher in the World’.
When she is not busy being inspirational in the classroom, she would like nothing more than to relax with her two young boys, but she can’t as they view her as a human climbing frame.
She lives in the North East of England and her neighbours include four alpaca, three peacocks, two pigs, one horse, two dogs, two noisy cockerels and many many ducks and chickens, all of which create far less mess than her husband and children.
Jenny’s first novel, The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates, described as a “big-hearted comic journey about friendship, family, and a miraculously well-timed seagull”, was named Waterstones Book of the Month, The Times Children’s Book of the Week, and The Week Junior Book of the Week. It was also shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and The Branford Boase Award. Her second book is The Incredible Record Smashers, also named The Times Children’s Book of the Week.
Twitter: @J_C_Pearson
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