Class Description
Young adult and middle grade fiction is where some of the most vital, imaginative, and emotionally honest storytelling is happening right now — and it has some of the most devoted readers in the world. Whether you've never written for young readers or you're an experienced YA/MG writer looking for a creative recharge, this course has one simple mission: to teach you how to write for young readers.
Through a series of engaging exercises, we'll mine our imaginations, and our own experiences, for material that resonates with young adult and middle grade audiences, then bring those ideas to life through character, setting, dialogue, and situation. We'll read and discuss work by contemporary YA/MG authors to sharpen our sense of what's working in the genre right now, offer constructive feedback on work produced in class, and talk honestly about the writing process itself. Whether you're starting something brand new or generating material for a work-in-progress, you'll leave each session with pages, and plenty of momentum.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.