Writing YA & Children’s Fiction – Three Months
Applications
Writing YA & Children’s Fiction – Three Months
Develop imaginative and original YA, Middle Grade, and children's fiction on this advanced online course.
Tutor
Catherine JohnsonLength
3 monthsLocation
OnlineWriting Goal
Develop your writingLearn how to write exciting and engaging fiction for teenagers and children. This three-month course is for writers eager to take their writing for young readers seriously.
There’s something very special about children’s writers and I feel so lucky that I was placed with this group. I also left with a sense of ‘I can do this’.
Author of the YA TikTok sensation Last One to Die
With weekly teaching and workshopping on our interactive platform, plus one-to-one tutorials, and advice from industry experts, this course will help you hone your craft and learn more about how your story would fit within the YA and children’s fiction market. Our compact three-month schedule and online learning environment make this course ideal for writers with busy calendars in need of flexibility while they study.
You will join a group of 15 writers taught by Catherine Johnson, prize-winning YA and children’s fiction author and much-loved creative writing tutor. Teaching will cover how to create characters that are relatable to your target audience and an engaging narrative arc, as well as key writing techniques – from point-of-view and dialogue to world-building and plotting.
In addition to the weekly teaching and workshopping – which is flexibly timed so you can take part at a time that suits you each week – you’ll also attend an exclusive live industry masterclass on Zoom featuring insights from a leading literary agent. When the course ends, you’ll be given the opportunity to share your work with literary agents from Curtis Brown and C&W.
Over 250 of our students have gone on to become commercially published authors, including Bonnie Garmus, author of the multi-million copy bestseller, Lessons in Chemistry. Previous students of our Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course include Penny Chrimes (Tiger Heart), Michael Mann (Ghostcloud), Cynthia Murphy (Last One to Die) and Jenny Pearson (The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates). Whether you're in the early stages of writing, halfway through a first draft or embarking on a major rewrite – this course will give you the push you need to get the most out of your novel for younger readers.
Suitable for those working on a YA (14+), teen (11–16) middle grade (8–12) or young fiction (7+) novel. Learn more about the types of children’s fiction here.
Course runs from 20 Oct 2025 to 16 Feb 2026.
Tutor
Catherine Johnson
Catherine Johnson has written over 20 books for children and young adults, including Sawbones, which won the Young Quills Prize for best Historical Fiction in the 12+ category and was nominated for the Carnegie medal in 2015. Her book Freedom won the 2019 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children's Fiction.
Read our interview with Catherine to discover more about her writing and approach to teaching creative writing.
What does this course give you?
- Teaching videos: Across 12 teaching modules, videos and notes will be made available on our learning platform, covering a range of topics such as worldbuilding, characterisation, point-of-view and rewriting. All delivered by Catherine.
- A community of writers: Our selective applications process means that you will be writing your novel in a peer group of 15 students working at a high level. We have developed a bespoke learning platform exclusively for our students. Here you can give and receive feedback, and discuss the week’s topics with your fellow students and tutors. Many of our former students have found their trusted readers with us – and form strong working friendships with classmates which go on long after the course is over.
- Guided teaching: Catherine will teach on a variety of novel-writing topics in our interactive online learning platforms. She will also set homework tasks to further your learning.
- Writing workshops: Across the course, you'll get two dedicated workshops centring on 3,000-word extracts from your novel-in-progress. These sessions offer in-depth feedback, and are also designed to help develop your self-editing skills.
- 1-to-1 tutorials: You'll get two 45-minute, one-to-one tutorials with Catherine. Tutorials will be based on 3,000-word extracts of your novel-in-progress. Use these tutorials to address your specific concerns about your writing. Near the end of the course all students will also get a 45-minute one-to-one with an experienced CBC editor or a Curtis Brown/C&W literary agent. They will read a 6,000-word extract from your novel-in-progress plus your synopsis.
- Industry masterclass: Join a live Zoom session with Curtis Brown literary agents, they will talk about writing, editing and the submissions process, drawing on their experience of real-life publication journeys – with a specific focus on the market place for YA, Middle Grade and children’s fiction. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions.
- Synopsis & agent letter advice: We’ll draw on our expertise to give you the vital ingredients needed for a great synopsis and the all-important pitch letter. Individual feedback will come from experienced members of the CBC editorial team and/or a Curtis Brown/C&W literary agent.
- End of course submission: All students will be invited to submit the 3,000-word opening from their novel, plus a synopsis, to be shared with the agent teams at Curtis Brown and C&W as well as a select group of agents from other UK-based agencies. This is not a formal submission but a chance to give the agents a taste of your work at this stage. When you are ready to formally submit – no matter how long after your course has finished – the CBC team will give you guidance and support with your submission to the Curtis Brown and C&W agents.
- Alumni services: You’ll be given access to a range of exclusive writing services, available only to the alumni of our selective courses, which you’ll be able to access after your course finishes. These services include individual mentoring, editorial reports on your completed novel, and submission reports on your ‘pitch package’. Read more about the opportunities available to our alumni here.
Course schedule
WEEK 1 – INTRODUCTION
Mon 20 Oct – Sun 26 OctWEEK 2 – BEGINNINGS
Mon 27 Oct – Sun 2 NovWEEK 3 – CHARACTERISATION
Mon 3 Nov – Sun 9 NovWEEK 4 – POINT OF VIEW
Mon 10 Nov – Sun 16 NovWEEK 5 – WORLD-BUILDING
Mon 17 Nov – Sun 23 NovWEEK 6 – EVERYTHING MATTERS
Mon 24 Nov – Sun 30 NovWEEK 7 – SYNOPSIS
Mon 1 Dec – Sun 7 DecWEEK 8 – DIALOGUE AND DESCRIPTION
Mon 8 Dec – Sun 14 DecCHRISTMAS BREAK
Mon 15 Dec – Sun 4 Jan 2024WEEK 9 – PLANNING, PLOTTING AND DREAMING
Mon 5 Jan – Sun 11 JanWEEK 10 – CHILDREN’S WRITING TROUBLESHOOTING
Mon 12 Jan – Sun 18 JanINDUSTRY TUTORIALS
Mon 12 Jan – Fri 23 JanWEEK 11 – ENDINGS AND RESOLUTIONS
Mon 19 Jan – Sun 25 JanWEEK 12 – EDITING AND REWRITING
Mon 26 Jan – Sun 1 FebWEEK 13 – END OF COURSE SUBMISSION
Mon 16 Feb
COURSE FEES
The course fee of £1,800 (inc VAT) per student is payable, in full, by bank transfer or debit/credit card before the start of the course. (Please note, card payments will incur an additional transaction fee.) However, if you are unable to pay the full fee upfront, let us know and we can arrange an instalment plan.
READY TO APPLY?
Please apply with the first 3,000 words of the novel you’d like to work on during the course, and a synopsis of no more than a page (both need to be in the same document, as you can only upload ONE file to the application form).
The CBC team will select applicants based on the quality of the writing sample provided. The deadline for applications is midday Sunday 21 September 2025, and we will respond to applicants by Thursday 25 September 2025.
We read all application material promptly after the closing date and make our selection of students swiftly at that time. However if you require an earlier response from us in order to be able to take part in this course, please email us with full details and we will consider and respond on a case by case basis.
If you encounter any problems during the application process, or have any more questions about the course, please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk for assistance.
Scholarship place
The Breakthrough YA & Children's Fiction Scholarship for Writers of Colour will award one talented writer of colour with limited financial means a place on this three-month Writing YA & Children's Fiction course. Deadline Sunday 5 October.
Breakthrough YA & Children's Fiction Scholarship for Writers of Colour
