Children’s Writing Courses I have Taken and Recommend
1. OplexCareers Children’s Writing Course – the First Children’s Course I Did:
Great starter course, especially if you are unsure for which age group you want to write for. This children’s course will give you an overview of all the age groups, book lenghts etc. And for the price you can’t go wrong! At the end you will have an online test and if you pass you will receive a pdf certificate. You can order a hard copy for an extra £10 or so, which I did and the certificate looks great! You have one year to finish the course. You do not get feedback on your stories, but for the cheap price that’s understandable. If you are at the begining of your writing journey, having a certificate will make you feel proud too. You will feel like you acheived something already. You can frame it and hang it on your wall as well.
Click the image above or here to check it out.
2. Various Courses from Writing Blueprints
As you can see below I have bought quite a few courses or bundles from Writing Blueprints and all of them have been excellent. If they were not I would not be buying more and more. I have lifetime access to all of them which means I can revisit them again and again. Not all course providers give you lifetime access so do check that before you buy. And many of their courses have FREE trial versions too, so you will be able to access few lessons for free to see if you like it.
Some of them I purchased as a bundle which makes them more economical. Picture Book Bundle is great for helping you to write your story as it takes you step by step from idea till crafting the ending and teaches you how to improve your story via self-editing.
There is a lot more courses to choose from including a course that teaches How to Do School Visits, How to Self-Publish Your Book, How to Promote, How to Create an Author Website and more! It’s really handy having so many courses in one place! All of them are video based with some handouts, print out and pdfs.
Click here to check the current courses and offers.
3. How to Write a Children’s Picture Book by Darcy Pattison
Darcy touched on some aspects of picture book writing that other courses didn’t, like the importance of choosing the right words, the right sounds and the right topics. Well structured learning and video based.
Darcy has other courses as well. She has been traditionally published and won quite a few awards, but now she is self-publishing, including non-fiction books for young readers.
Excellent course! You will not be disapointed. Learn more here.
4. The Craft & Business of Writing Children’s Picture Books
This one is a lot more pricey ( $500 – $700) but it is not an instant access course. It lasts 5 weeks with 1 live webinar per week where you will get a mini critique on your story idea and/or pitch. There is also a great private and very active Facebook group dedicated only to this course where you can ask questions and get peer feedback. Also, you will have a chance to sign up for a critique group if you want. This course is part text resources and part video.
You will have to do it one day at a time as the following lessons are locked, so on the first Monday of week 1 you are only able to access the Monday Lesson and so on. I did mine during summer 2019. At the time of writing, the next start date is Winter 2020 and then the next one is April 2021. There is also a bonus 6th week to which you will have instant access. I didn’t realise that, so I only watched it after the 5 interactive weeks have ended. It is a great bonus, I really enjoyed it. It is presented by Mira Reisberg and Barbara Bottner.
At the end of the course there will be 12 submission opportunities. To take part in this you will post your book pitch on a special secret website that Mira will provide, and agents/editors will comment only on the pitches they like requesting that you send them your full, polished story. So there is no guarantee that you will be selected. You can access the course for a year.
Usually you will also receive access to other courses. Those ones are prerecorded and instant access. And I stll have access to most of those. There was one I thought was great but can’t see it now in my dashboard. It was about Rules of Picture Books. There are more stand-alone courses for chapter book writing, illustrating, board book wrting and more.
Because I already had some knowlege about picture book writing before I enrolled for this course, so for me, the most enjoyable part was author and illustrator interviews, getting to know the agents/editors. Thanks to this course I also have discovered a lot of great books and some of them are now in my ever growing picture book collection.
5. Picture Book Essentials by Joyce Sweeney
By now, you may be thinking why I keep buying more courses. I will tell you: because you can always learn more! Every teacher is different and they share slightly different content.
Like this one, for example, will help you reconnect with your inner child and help with mine your life for stories. It will be especially valuable if you want to write real life stories from your childhood or slice of life type of stories with humans as characters.
The course I’ve taken was instant access, prerecoded video-based version, but I think she used to do interactive version too with feedback and possibly live webinars.
You can check it out here: https://www.sweeneywritingcoach.com At the time of writing this website does not work, but perhaps it will be up again soon.
6. Advanced Novel Writing with Harry Potter by Clark Chamberlain
Some other courses which are not specifically for Children’s Writers but I enjoyed them all the same:
1. How to Write Enchanting Prose Course by John David Wolverton ( pen name: David Farland )
2. 7 Steps to a Stronger Story
3. Create Dynamic Characters by Michelle Schusterman
If you like the interactive aspect of courses, or you would like to book an hour long critique of your story, or if you would like to find critique partners then do check this course out. Payment plans are available but no refunds.