Children's Fantasy Writing Specialization for Young Authors

Now I am going to tell you about my idols; my rock stars from literature, film, art, and even instrumental music. Let's see how many we agree on!

Influences | Olney Goin

Influences | Piers Torday

In this lesson, I’ll show how legendary theatre-makers I admire have been inspired by books they love to make iconic works of their own.

Module 2

Discover the magic of storytelling with Lisa Thompson, as she shows you how to turn personal memories into rich, contemporary fiction for young readers. Through sensory exploration and character creation, you’ll unlock techniques to make your stories vivid, relatable, and full of heart. A creative journey that brings your past to life — and sparks new ideas.

11 lessons (1h 30m)

Materials for Writing

Let me first talk about the materials that I find useful for writing―whether it be journals, mood boards, or apps.

Ideas

In this lesson, we will take a look at how useful it can be to curate your own 'treasure box' filled with ideas that you can draw from when the time is right.

12m

Choosing Your Main Characters

Now let us have a look at the question of how to build interesting characters that readers care about and want to stay with.

Finding Material in Your Past

Let us now talk about the power of your childhood memories, how they can inspire ideas and in which way they can help you to write in a more vibrant way!

Planning a Story

In this lesson, I will share how I am a very reluctant planner when it comes to novel writing, but how I believe that it is necessary to do so. I will show you my methods to help me to stay on track when writing a first draft. I will also talk about how important it is to 'show' your readers what is going on with your character instead of 'telling' them.

Researching to Connect with Your Audience

Now we will take a look at connecting with our audience of younger readers. There are many things that you can do to achieve this, but one of the most important things for me is to read what is already out there.

The Importance of 'Show, Don't Tell'

In this lesson, we will take a look at the important lesson of 'show, don't tell' and how we should trust our readers to fill in the gaps.

Music and Mood Boards

The hardest thing about writing can be to actually start! That's why I would like to share with you how I like to create the best environment I can before I actually begin to write. This way, I give myself the best possible chance of concentration and inspiration!

Writing and Finishing Your Draft

In this lesson, I will share some tips on writing your first draft. You have your character, your setting, and your idea. Let's try to put it all together!

Editing Your Writing

Let me tell you a bit about the editing process and how important it is to walk away from your work for a while.

In this lesson, I will talk about finding the right readers for your work to help you with the editing process.

Sharing Your Writing

Module 3

Let your imagination run wild with Piers Torday as he guides you through the exciting adventure of writing your very first children’s novel. From crafting a powerful synopsis to designing unforgettable characters and rich fictional worlds, you’ll learn how to build stories that transport young readers and ignite their curiosity. A journey filled with wonder, creativity, and purpose.

15 lessons (3h 46m)

Why Write?

In this lesson, we’ll explore where the impulse to write comes from, and why stories matter.

Where Do Ideas Come From?

Now it’s time to learn how childhood experience has inspired some of the world’s greatest children’s stories, and how you can use your own memories to get started.

18m

How to Have Ideas

One of the questions I am asked most as an author is “Where do you get your ideas from?” I wish I could tell you. I don’t honestly know. But I do know how to make your mind as receptive as possible to new ideas, and that’s what we cover in this lesson.

19m

To Plan or Not to Plan 1

Whether you plan your book in minute detail or outline in broad brush strokes, it is useful to know where your story is headed before you begin writing. In this lesson, we’ll look at different ways to structure a story.

Let's continue this lesson by developing the idea of the heroe's journey.

To Plan or Not to Plan 2

Creating a Fictional World

Whether your story is set in a fantasy universe, or a fictional high school, in this lesson we’ll explore how to make your fictional world feel authentic and compelling on the page.

Characters are at the heart of any story, but perhaps especially so for younger readers, who can form bonds with fictional beings on the page that feel momentarily as real as the most intense friendship. But what kind of characters work well in children’s fiction and how many do you need?

Characters

12m

The Writer’s Toolbox: Finding Yours

Writing can be one of the most satisfying pleasures there is —creatively, intellectually and emotionally. But it can also be very hard work, both physically and mentally, and as a largely solitary art form, requires deep reserves of self confidence and a strong writing habit. Here’s some tips on that before we commence our final project.

Ideas for stories come in many forms. A character that pops into your head who demands their story be told, a compelling title with an irresistible proposition, a subject you are passionate about..but they can also be elusive! Here’s how to have ideas and shape them into a workable inspiration for a book.

Finding the Idea

Characters bring life to a story. Whether human or animal or fantasy being, once a reader cares about your fictional creation, they are invested in their fate, and will keep reading to find out what happens next. In this lesson, find out how to create characters that convince.

Creating Your Characters

18m

Structuring the Story

The art of storytelling is the art of the right choices at the right time. What your characters choose to do, when and why will either grip your reader or leave them cold. In this lesson, we’re going to look at why storytelling is not telling your reader everything at once.

A synopsis is not just a description of what happens in your story, but a valuable document you can use to present your idea to agents and publishers. In this lesson we’ll look at how to summarise all the elements of your story into a concise pitch.

Writing Your Synopsis

The more you write, the better you write. You will become more confident in your choices and quicker at solving problems. Your writing style will mature, and you will gain more pleasure from the process. But writing is a solitary activity and it’s common to lose confidence in your work from time to time. Here are some strategies for coping with writer’s block.

Writer’s Block

Sooner or later, you will need to share your story with the world. Here is some advice on how best to present your book to agents and publishers.

How to Pitch Your Story

20m

An Overview of the Children’s Book Market

The children’s book market is one of the biggest, vibrant and increasingly diverse sectors in publishing. There should be room for everyone to tell their story. But how do you find your place? In this lesson, we’ll look at how to balance art and business, and research the best opportunities in publishing for you.

What Is a Children's Book?

Module 4

Join Ross Montgomery on a playful and imaginative ride into the world of quest storytelling for children. With his signature humor and sense of wonder, Ross helps you shape an exciting plot, craft a one-page synopsis, and get your story ready to share with literary agents. A delightful blend of creativity and practical insight to kick-start your publishing journey.

13 lessons (2h 55m)

Let me first explain what you need to consider before you start writing by talking about children’s books in general. I'll talk about my final project, currently called The Stone Callers: how the story came into being and the mistakes I made in constructing earlier versions for my publisher.

Warm-up Exercises to Start Writing

In this lesson, I'll talk about how I gather material, ideas, and inspiration for my stories. I will also suggest some approaches you could use for your own writing.

Gathering Your Ideas Together

Let me now tell you how I gather ideas for my stories and how I put them together: collating those thoughts together into one place, ready to start writing your synopsis.

20m

What is a Quest Narrative?

Let me now talk you through the standard structure of an adventure-quest narrative, using my final project The Stone Callers as an example. Your eventual synopsis will follow this structure.

12m

Planning: The Beginning 1

In this lesson, I'll talk in greater detail about how your story will begin and the main things that you should consider when setting out your synopsis.

17m

Planning: The Beginning 2

Let's continue to work on the details of the beginning of our story before diving into the rest of the plot. These elements are essential, as they allow us to sculpt a middle that is exciting and feels natural.

Planning: The Middle 1

Let's now talk about how to develop your story as it builds up to its climax―how to keep the reader engaged, how to up the stakes, and how to add depth to your quest.

Let's decide on what remains inconcrete in the middle part of our plot. It's all about getting some key things in the right place and then down onto paper before planning out the climax and resolution of our story.

Planning: The Middle 2

Planning: The End

In this lesson, we'll wrap up our plan: We will be taking the story we've set up to think about how to conclude it, thereby linking it to the way our story began.

Now we'll take the plan that you've made and condense it down to its most important key points in a single-page synopsis, ready to submit to a literary agent.

Creating Your Synopsis 1

19m

Creating Your Synopsis 2

Now we are going to try to cut down our text into a one-page synopsis. We are going to focus on our key points and leave out everything that isn't essential.

Research

Let's talk about how to plan your submission: researching the current market, finding a list of agents to submit to, and engaging with the wider writing community.

In this lesson, I'll talk about how to submit your work―from writing a cover letter to sending it out! We'll also be talking about the things to consider and mistakes to avoid before diving into the question of how to deal with rejection.

Submitting

15m

Module 5

Let Olney Goin show you how to turn everyday ideas into spellbinding fantasy tales for young readers. From the very first spark of inspiration to the final page, you’ll learn how to create vibrant characters, build magical worlds, and shape a full story with confidence. A joyful deep dive into writing that will awaken your imagination.

11 lessons (1h 59m)

Inspiration versus effort

Waiting for inspiration to find you is like sitting in a park waiting for lightning to strike your head. The best thing you can do is create your own storm.

Reconnecting with the child's imagination

The difference between a child and an adult is that everything is possible for a child and not for an adult. The difference between a child and a writer is that for the child everything is possible and the writer takes advantage of it.

The World: Your Personal Wizard Hat

There will always be times when the imagination feels a bit lazy. With the techniques that I will present to you in this lesson you will be able to fully awaken her.

Activating your imagination

Writers require constant practice to improve our style. In this lesson I will give you a practice that will improve your technique and another that will challenge your inventive capacity.

17m

Building the Foundations: Developing Ideas Around a Character

In this lesson I'll show you my favorite way to lay the groundwork for a story: think of a character, and ask yourself all about them.

17m

Arming the structure from the bases

With the ideas gathered in the previous lesson, we will develop a provisional structure of our book from start to finish.

Taking off: the importance of starting off on the right foot

The first impression is what counts. For this reason, we will delve into some tips to start off on the right foot in order to hijack the attention of our readers.

The Journey: Keeping the Reader Flying

In this lesson I am going to teach you five golden rules that will help you not only keep the reader attentive to your story, but also add dynamism to it.

The Landing: Finding the Right Closing and Titles

There is nothing more satisfying than a good ending. An ending that surprises us, but that, somehow, we also expected. A good ending is, in short, the logical and natural conclusion of the protagonist's narrative arc and will be reached organically if you accomplish a few things. In this lesson I am going to tell you about them.

Your book is finished, now what?

In the next lesson you will find a series of tips that may be useful when connecting with the publishing world.

How to get around creative blocks

This lesson is for anyone who has ever faced a writer's block or is afraid of facing one. You will find a list of things that you can do and another of things that it will be better to avoid at this time.

Module 6

Step into the spotlight with Piers Torday and discover how to turn your story ideas into unforgettable stage plays for children and families. From shaping your first scene to preparing for opening night, you'll learn how to craft scripts full of emotion, wonder, and theatrical magic. A perfect blend of storytelling and stagecraft to captivate every audience.

14 lessons (2h 29m)

It’s Showtime!

In this lesson, we’ll look at the history of family theatre and why it has never been more popular than today.

Preparing a Live Performance

What are the creative challenges of presenting live work and what are the rewards? Let's find out.

The majority of successful family shows are adaptations – of books, films, and even toys or games. In this lesson, we’ll look at the pleasures and perils of bringing someone else’s story to life.

Adaptations

Creating Conflict

Without conflict, there is no drama. The conflict between a character’s dreams and reality, between desire and the thing or person desired, between their own sense of self and how they are perceived by others – just as these oppositions often provide the main tensions in our own lives, so they do on stage.

Characters: The Art of Change

In theatre, perhaps more than any other storytelling art form, the characters are the plot. In this lesson, I will discuss how to create compelling characters and how to map out their story.

To enable an audience to suspend their disbelief (if that is your intention) and become part of a fictional world on stage, you should establish clear boundaries of time and space, no matter the style or form of theatre. It's time to set some ground rules!

Establishing Some Rules

Time and Place

When we watch a live narrative, we need to understand whether we are watching something in real-time or in a timeframe invented by you, the writer. And where is it taking place? Getting these conceptual fundamentals right is key to immersing your audience in the story.

Unless you are creating a purely physical piece of theatre, or a sung-through musical, your characters will live through their words and actions. In this lesson, we’ll look at how to write dialogue that creates drama.

Dramatic Dialogue

From Draft to Production 1

You’ve done the hard part: getting to the end of the first draft. Now what? In this lesson, we’ll map out the key steps from completion to performance.

From Draft to Production 2

Plays aren't designed to be read, they're designed to be performed! In the second part of this lesson, we will continue to transform our blueprints into a 3D performance.

Rehearsals are perhaps the most intensely creative part of any theatrical production. Over a short time-limited period, your script will be shaped into a three-dimensional living work of art. Tickets are on sale already. Here’s how to make sure your show is audience-ready!

Rehearsals