Frequently Asked Questions

Our Writing for Children and Young Adults course is an industry-led programme designed to help writers understand how to craft a strong story that will have the best chance in the current market. Previous students on our course have included MA graduates, produced playwrights, TV scriptwriters and published children’s writers. Each has found the course to be enlightening. We’ve also had agents and publishers recommend our services to writers who show promise but aren’t yet ready for representation.

Writing for children is a different discipline to writing for adults. The Writing for Children and Young Adults syllabus covers the child’s voice and viewpoint, insight into the current children’s market and how to connect with and engage the child reader of today. Our current intakes include produced playwrights, TV scriptwriters and published children’s writers – all of whom are finding the course very helpful.

Whilst most of our students have been writing for at least 18 months, and some students for a lot longer, we are happy to take a look at your pages. Application is free but we would strongly recommend that you take a look at our short course, Write Your Successful Children’s Novel. It’s a great place to ensure you have all of the core elements of writing a children’s novel in place before joining our more in-depth, intensive, twelve-month course.

We rarely accept students directly onto our Work on Your Novel course or Mentoring. In our experience, even the most beautifully written story benefits from the rigorous work carried out on concept and plot as covered by our Writing for Children and Young Adults course. However, we will never hold a writer back, so if your course editor feels you are progressing at a quicker rate than expected we will discuss your options.

Writing for Children and Young Adults will suit applicants wanting the structure, teaching and impetus to complete a first draft or a rewrite as well as those wishing to edit a completed draft of their novel. Applicants should have at least 15,000 words of their novel started before the course commences. We would also recommend taking a look at our short course, Write Your Successful Children’s Novel, as this course may be more appropriate to help you develop your story/complete your manuscript before applying for our twelve-month course.

Whilst an MA would usually encourage students to explore their writing through preparation of a number of pieces of work, Writing for Children and Young Adults requires you to focus on a single manuscript. Golden Egg courses are industry-focused and all have the aim of bringing you a step closer to publication. Rather than exploring new territory, Golden Egg supports you as you develop your manuscript. You will work with an editor to refine and strengthen the concept and plotline of your work in progress as well as receiving guidance on how to heighten reader engagement.

Our wings are wide open to former eggs and we’d love to have you back in the Nest. Get in touch, let us know where you’re up to with your writing, and we can take it from there!

As soon as dates are available, they will be noted on the website page for the relevant course. If dates are not yet included in the workshop copy, it’s because an aspect is still being worked out. Please revisit the page which will be updated as soon as possible.

Feedback will not be provided until applications have closed and decisions have been provided. When applying for our Writing for Children and Young Adults course, please note that you would like to book feedback on your application. Once you have been contacted with the result of your application, you may discuss further. If you are successful in your application, we would recommend waiting until your first one2one editorial with your editor takes place as application feedback is provided at an additional cost.

Please pick the story that you feel is the strongest. Applications are assessed for free and, as such, we do not have the bandwidth to assess multiple stories from individuals. Everything you learn on our course is transferable, which means you can develop your other stories using the skills taught by GEA. If successful in your application, you can discuss your other story ideas with your assigned editor. They will advise whether it’s worth continuing with a different story idea and/or help you assess them for suitability.

All you need to join our short course is a story idea. This course helps you understand how to build a story from the ground up, as well as develop a pre-existing idea. If you’re right at the beginning of your writing journey, this course will help you identify areas that you need to think about and how to craft something you can write from start to finish.

Joining our twelve-week short course, Write Your Successful Children’ Novel, doesn’t mean you can’t apply for our next twelve-month course, Writing for Children and Young Adults. In fact, we’re happy to make a recommendation as part of the 2,000-word review included in the short course fee.