A blend of practical writing tips along with creative strategies for developing and sustaining work on a novel for children/teens over the long haul. It will include guidelines caveats and explore principles for writing for these age groups and a discussion on how the different age bands of your target readership can affect key creative decisions including structure, pacing, theme and word count.

Sarah will share some of the proven techniques she has used to help her to get started with her own writing, as well as strategies for building momentum and for bringing a novel for younger readers to completion. We’ll talk about that tricky balance that needs to be struck by those writing for children and teens, i.e. the importance (or otherwise) of being in touch with your own childhood/teen experiences, and the fact that children and teens of today will have very different reference points and life contexts.

Throughout the workshop, you will engage with writing prompts, ideas and exercises that can help you to access the emotional and communicative approaches to writing with younger readerships in mind.