Learning to write for children/young adults with Vanessa Curtis

Summary:  Learning to write for children/young adults with Vanessa Curtis      Type:  One to One Email Correspondence. Duration:  10 weeks. Fee:  £300   About the course Award-winning children's author Vanessa Curtis (see www.vanessacurtis.com) will help you over the course of ten weeks to devise, plan and write a tightly structured children's novel, focusing on strong characterisation, snappy dialogue, pace, tension, originality and sub-plot. She will also help you find your unique 'author voice' and chose and explore your particular genre using online and published resources. She will suggest background reading to inspire and encourage you, including relevant books written by other successful children's authors. Drawing on her own and other's books as examples, she will suggest exercises to give your book the best chance of being successful and will offer fair and comprehensive feedback on any text submitted. She will also offer advice on using a synopsis to plot and shape your novel and suggest the best ways of compiling and presenting a complete submission packages for agents and publishers, as well as offering advice on how to cope with author rejection and turn it round to your advantage. About the Tutor Author 'Zelah Green' and 'Zelah Green: One More Little Problem' (Egmont. 2009/10) Author 'The Taming of Lilah May' (series with Frances Lincoln, due to be published May 2010) Winner, Manchester Children's Book Awards 2010 Shortlisted for the Waterstones Awards 2009, the Bolton Book Awards 2010 and the NASEN awards 2009. Currently long-listed for the Branford Boase 2010. Vanessa is a regular contributor to WriteWords View Vanessa's WW profile. Read our interview with Vanessa