Children’s Fiction: Write Compelling Adventure Stories
A course by Ross Montgomery, Children's Author
Joined December 2020
Explore the process of writing a captivating quest story for children and create a one-page synopsis of your book ready to submit to a literary agent
Joined December 2020
Children’s fiction writing is a chance to take the imagination of young minds on fantastical journeys, whilst diving into an exciting literary journey of your own. Award-winning children’s author Ross Montgomery began his career as a primary school teacher, but since his writing debut Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door he has written more than 20 books for young readers. His stories invite them into worlds full of oddity, mischief, and laughter.
In this course, he guides you through the development of your own adventure-quest story plot, and how to edit it to create a structured one-page synopsis ready to submit to a literary agent. Explore what a children’s book is, understand your readers, and learn how to approach publishers with your story. Embark on your children’s fiction adventure.
What will you learn in this online course?
15 lessons & 18 downloads
What's included in this course?
Begin by getting to know children’s author Ross Montgomery, as he shares his journey to becoming a published author and tells you a bit about himself and his work. He also discusses the people who have influenced his writing style and who inspired him to begin creating his own stories.
Delve into the question ‘what is a children’s book?’. Ross introduces you to his current working title and reflects on his previous work to demonstrate the key elements you need to consider when writing for a young reader, such as their perspective, vocabulary, and relatability. Then discover some exercises and approaches for gathering inspiration and story ideas, as well as collating your thoughts in one place.
Time to turn your ideas into a plot. Explore the structure of a quest-adventure narrative, using Ross’s latest book for reference, and work step-by-step through planning the beginning, middle, and the end of your story. Then, condense your plot as Ross explains how to develop the important points into a one-page synopsis.
Learn about submitting your synopsis to a literary agent. Understand how to research your market, compile a list of relevant agents, and become a part of the writing community. End the course with Ross’ advice on writing the cover letter to accompany your synopsis and how to handle rejection.
- 100% positive reviews (149)
- 4,699 students
- 15 lessons (3h 13m)
- 18 additional resources (7 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English, German, Spanish, Spanish (Latam), French, Indonesian, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch · Turkish · Romanian · Indonesian
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Write a single page synopsis of your quest-adventure book, ready to send to a literary agent.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is for anyone interested in writing children’s books, and learning how to pitch their story.
Requirements and materials
No previous experience is required.
In terms of materials, all you need is access to a word processor.
Reviews
Ross Montgomery
A course by Ross Montgomery
Ross Montgomery is an award-winning children’s author, who has been an avid reader and writer since childhood. He began his career as a primary school teacher and in the school holidays started writing a book for young readers. Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door, Ross’ professional writing debut, kick started his career as an author in 2013. The book was also shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and selected as The Sunday Times Top 100 Modern Children’s Classics.
Since then, Ross has written over 20 books for young readers, everything from picture books to short stories to novels, all of which are full of humor, magic, and adventure. His titles include Perijee and Me which won the Weald Book Award and Max and the Millions, both of which were nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Award. Ross also leads writing workshops for both children and adults.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Preparation
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What Is a Children's Book?
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Warm-up Exercises to Start Writing
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Gathering Your Ideas Together
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U3
Planning and Creating
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What is a Quest Narrative?
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Planning: The Beginning 1
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Planning: The Beginning 2
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Planning: The Middle 1
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Planning: The Middle 2
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Planning: The End
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Creating Your Synopsis 1
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Creating Your Synopsis 2
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U4
Submitting Your Synopsis
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Research
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Submitting
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FP
Final project
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Introduction to children's book fiction
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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FAQs
This course is ideal for writers with some experience, as it covers intermediate techniques for developing, structuring, and submitting children's book manuscripts.
You'll learn how to generate story ideas, craft compelling plots, build magical worlds, develop relatable protagonists, balance humor and emotion, and prepare manuscripts for submission to publishers.
No, you can begin with just an idea or a rough draft. The course guides you from brainstorming and outlining to revising and submitting your children's book.
The course covers gathering ideas, plotting with structures like three-act and story mountain, developing characters, worldbuilding, drafting scenes, and revising into a cohesive narrative.
You'll learn how to select appropriate themes, vocabulary, and story complexity for the 8 to 12 age range to engage and connect with young readers.
The course introduces both analog and digital tools, including Scrivener, for organizing ideas, outlining plots, and managing manuscript drafts, but you can also use notebooks or basic word processors.
Yes, you'll learn to condense your story into a one-page synopsis and receive guidance on researching agents, tailoring submissions, and writing effective cover letters.
I really liked this course. Thank you!
I bought this course for my 12 year old daughter and she is absolutely happy after taking it. Here is her comment.
"Fantastic course!
Your advice was very good, it helped a lot and I found out many new things about this industry. I hope my novel will be in the bookstores soon, and with this help I feel quite confident about what I am doing.
Thank you very much for this course. :)
Ustyna, 12 years old (maybe future writer)"
Teşekkürler, harika!
muy bueno
excelente curso, muy completo. me esta ayudando mucho en la elaboración de mi proyecto de titulo en la universidad.