Intensive: Planning & Plotting a Series for Young Readers

Writing and selling a series for young readers requires a different process than that for a stand-alone novel. In this intensive, you'll gain the know-how to plan, structure, and pitch your series with confidence.

This intensive will be broken into two, 90-minute sessions on planning and plotting a series, delivered over Zoom, with the opportunity to ask additional questions the following week on the intensive's discussion board. Each class will also include short in-class exercises, take-home exercises to complete on your own, and a handout to keep. 

This intensive builds on Marcie's November 2024 class Developing a Premise for Serialized Fiction for Young Readers. Your signup includes access to this class and we encourage you to watch it in advance. 

Both sessions will be recorded and shared the following day. Recordings will be available for 60 days.

Session 1 : Planning

In this session, you'll work on getting the bones of your series idea in place. Through lecture and case study, we will discuss:  

• Writing a compelling premise. This part of the intensive builds directly on the webinar material. Participants will be given the opportunity to share their premise in advance, and Marcie will use a handful of these to demonstrate what works and what can be strengthened in a premise idea.
• Considerations for choosing a format: chapter book, graphic novel, or early reader; prose or comic or hybrid
• Character growth and arc in a series for young readers

Session 2: Plotting

This session will dive into plotting the first book in your series, and planning the plot for additional books. Through lecture, case study, and in-class writing, we will cover: 

• Outlining book one (in the context of a series)
• Writing additional book blurbs 
• What to include in your proposal/submission package and what to consider as you create each element.

For an even deeper dive and to get feedback on your partial submission package with Marcie, sign up for the Intensive + Discussion instead (Max 10 writers - don't sign up for both!). Learn more here.