Archive for October 2011

Online Middle Grade Fiction Class (and more!)

Once again I’m offering my online class again for writers of middle grade fiction. Click here to register.

Here are the description and details:

Many consider ages 8–12, “the middle grades,” to be a golden age for readers. Their novels include classics like Charlotte’s Web, the Ramona series, and the earliest adventures of Harry Potter. Most Newbery winners also fall into this category. In this class, participants will explore some of the qualities that make a book a hit with young readers, with an emphasis on developing a character-driven story.

And here’s some additional information if you’re interested:

  • The class is eight weeks long and is mostly asynchronous, i.e., you complete the activities on your own schedule.
  • This is an enrichment course and is not for credit.
  • You can expect to spend two hours a week participating in class activities.
  • Those activities include short readings & recommended readings, live chats, discussion forums, critiques, and miscellaneous short (and hopefully fun) collaborative activities.
  • There is no text but there are lots of recommended titles from the MG canon. Note: we may decide as a class to read and discuss one novel — my current class did this!
  • I will also be providing private critiques to each participant, reading and responding to “a partial” with or without a cover letter.

I’m excited to teach this class, and synthesize what I’ve learned from a life time of reading, three books under my belt, and ten years in learning technology.

As the Loft’s online program manager, I’m thrilled that we are also offering three new online classes in children & young adult literature, and a fourth that many middle-grade and young-adult writers would enjoy.

Go here to see the complete list of classes.

Tangled Themes Part 3 – H. P. Lovecraft

I’ve been writing about the themes that play into Tanglewood Terror, and have been meaning to write about H.P. Lovecraft, the inspiration for the Max Bailey character (and really, the whole darned book). As luck would have it, this played perfectly in to the terrific author Nova Ren Suma’s series of posts by fellow authors about what scares them. Here’s my contribution, but after you read it, browse through the others — it’s a really great series. Then check out Suma’s imaginative and poignant novel, Imaginary Girls.