Narrative Techniques for Children’s Books
A course by Natalia Méndez
, Editor and Teacher
Learn the basic components of a story to create tales for children
- Best seller Spanish with subtitles in English
- 96% positive reviews (1.1K)
- 25536 students
Learn the basic components of a story to create tales for children
- 96% positive reviews (1.1K)
- 25536 students
- 16 lessons (2h 26m)
- 14 additional resources (2 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: Spanish
- Spanish, English, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
They say that to write children's books you have to channel your inner child, free your imagination, look at the world in wonder, and, above all, play with the story. Natalia Méndez, editor, author, and teacher at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), has many years' experience in turning ideas into children's books and knows exactly how to create and edit great stories by playing with them, from the very first idea to final publication.
In this course, get an overview of the children's publishing world and learn all the components and narrative structures to transform your ideas into children's stories.
What will you learn in this online course?
Course table of contents
-
U1U1. Introduction
-
U2U2. The huge world of books for children
-
U3U3. A story step by step
-
U4U4. The structure of the stories
-
U5U5. The dessert cherry
-
FPFP Final project
Start the course by meeting Natalia Méndez, who shares her passion for reading, her professional background in children's literature, and her main influences.
Go through a brief history of children's books from their origin to the present day.
Get an introduction to literary genres, discover their role in good storytelling, and look at the editing process of a children's book, from the moment an author's original work arrives until the book finally goes to print.
Next, Natalia teaches you how to write a story step by step with the help of a fun game. Use some dice with different images on their sides as idea generators, to progress your story without any restrictions.
Learn the basic elements of a story and the different types of narrators to lay down the foundations of your written or graphic project.
Continue by analyzing the different types of narrative structures. Natalia thoroughly explains the traditional structure, the four-part or non-conflict structure, and the chain or list structure. Choose the one you like best to develop your story.
To finish, apply her handy tips to edit your project, choose a publisher to present it to and, also, discover some different self-publishing options.
What is this course's project?
Write a short story using a game as an idea generator.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone interested in writing a children's story and anybody who wants to discover the world of children's literature in general.
Requirements and materials
No previous experience is required.
As for materials, you need a pen or pencil, colored pencils, blank sheets of paper, and glue.
Reviews
A course by Natalia Méndez
Natalia Méndez has worked as an editor in the field of children's and young adult literature since 2002. She also teaches classes on publishing and literature at the UBA, workshops for writers at Casa de Letras, and training courses for children's literature editors.
She specialized in children's and young adult literature (CEPA/Government of the City of Buenos Aires) and is the author of La misteriosa desaparición del señor Tomás (Primera Sudamericana, 2017), Visitas (Ed. Abran Cancha, 2017), and Hojas sobre la almohada (Abran Cancha, 2014).
In 2007, she obtained a scholarship to attend the Ibero-American Editors Training course in Spain; in 2011, a scholarship as a researcher at the International Youth Library of Munich and, in 2012, she participated in the Frankfurt Fellowship program at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
She has her own artisanal publishing imprint, Dábale arroz, alongside Eduardo Abel Giménez, and a tiny ceramics and mini books business called A la zorra.
Content
-
U1
Introduction
-
Presentation
-
Influences
-
-
U2
The huge world of books for children
-
The specificity of children's and youth books
-
What are literary genres and why are they used to tell stories
-
The publishing genres and some surprises
-
How is the process of editing a children's book
-
Decalogue of yes and no if you want to write books for children
-
-
U3
A story step by step
-
Create a Dice to Generate a Story
-
The basics of a story: world, characters and structure
-
Types of narrators, point of view. The time of the story and the time of the narration.
-
-
U4
The structure of the stories
-
The traditional structure
-
Another model of structure: the structure in four parts or "without conflict"
-
Another model of structure: the list or chained structure
-
-
U5
The dessert cherry
-
The proper voice in the stories. The tool box I.
-
The proper voice in the stories. The tool box II.
-
Publication of a text
-
-
FP
Final project
-
Narrative techniques for children's books
-
What to expect from a Domestika course
-
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
-
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
-
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
-
Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
-
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
-
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
-
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
-
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
parraguez_s
Muy buen curso, didáctico y entretenido. Se agradece que muestre el proceso de trabajo conjunto con editoriales.
View translation
Hide translation
tigrediminuto
Es super interesante el conjunto de propuestas para escribir de este curso. Está super bien :)
View translation
Hide translation
adrygi
Excelente curso. Contenidos y explicación. Solo subí algunos listados de momento, supongo que habrá comentario por parte del profesor.
View translation
Hide translation
camilamorita
Este curso é maravilhoso! Usei a técnica dos dados com os meus alunos e eles adoraram! Obrigada!
View translation
Hide translation
bibidipeo
Excelente curso, entretenido y fácil de comprender.
View translation
Hide translation