Introduction to Writing a Children’s Fantasy Novel

Meet Piers Torday, children’s author, and your teacher for this course. He begins the course by sharing the people and stories who inspired him to write his own, the life experiences which shaped his work, and the writers who influence him the most.

Start by exploring your desire to write stories for children, and how to turn that impulse into a daily practice and professional career. Discover how your own childhood experiences can inspire your writing ideas, then learn to develop them.

Next, have a look at the different ways to structure your ideas into a full-length novel. Learn how to deconstruct the books you love and use their proven techniques in your own work. See how to create your own writer’s toolbox when developing a fictional world and its characters. Discover your own voice through exploratory and practical exercises, and how to silence the unhelpful inner critic.

Understand the principles of storytelling that produce unforgettable characters children love and a plot that hooks readers in. Using easily understandable models, break your idea down into simple units that, block by block, create a unique, fictional world. Piers shows you how to write character biographies, world bibles, and even a map.

Finally, learn how to finish a first draft, edit and polish it for submission. Piers shares his tips and strategies for getting your work published and wraps up the course by reminding you that writing is a process, not a destination. Hear his final thoughts on how to make the most of that journey.