Creative Writing: Character Building and Story Development (Age 10-14)

This class will teach the students to create characters and build stories around them. When we work with characters, we trigger our imagination to create stories, worlds, and other characters. In many ways, this process works the same way as when children play freely and use their imagination. The difference is that we will write it all down. 

I encourage each student to write with their own style and voice. This doesn't mean that we can't get better. Writing is just like a muscle. The more we do it, the better we get. At the end of this class, my goal is that each student will have started to write a story that could be developed into a short story or even a novel. 

Lesson 1 will introduce the class and each other. We will do a short writing prompt, talk about the characters, and get to know each other a little in a relaxed way. 

During lesson 2, everyone will introduce their characters, and we will talk about how we can use how characters look to show who they are. 

Lesson 3 will cover what influences a character’s actions, behavior, and decisions. 

Lesson 4 is about outlining or planning our writing. 

Lesson 5 is about how we can use our memories to add details to our writing and dramatic events and how to use these in our stories. 

Lesson 6 is about foreshadowing, our characters’ dreams, and how we utilize these in our writing. 

Lessons 7 and 8 will include information about publishing, book covers, and marketing for writers. 

There will be writing homework three times throughout the class. 

. Bring a pen/pencil and paper to class if you write by hand.