Malorie Blackman

Writing For Young Adults

Join literary icon and celebrated author of Noughts & Crosses as she shares 30 years of writing expertise over 26 comprehensive lessons and exercises.

26 video lessons

Course notes

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The Course

Join your Maestro, Malorie Blackman, as she teaches writing fiction for a Young Adult audience in 26 lessons and additional exercises. On the way you'll discover the fundamentals of storytelling including: plotting, character, representation and dialogue. You'll learn about the business end of authorship too, from literary agents to publishing and promotion. With over 70 books to her name, including one of The Guardian's 'best books of the 21st Century', Malorie has a wealth of experience to share.

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How to create believable characters with author, Malorie Blackman

Your Maestro

Malorie Blackman OBE is a literary icon. A prolific Young Adult author, in the last 30 years she’s written over 70 books, won over 20 awards, served as the Children’s Laureate and been a prominent campaigner for diversity in children’s literature. Her acclaimed YA novel Noughts & Crosses has found its way onto BBC television, the school syllabus and has been named by Stormzy as his favourite book. When it comes to penning your novel, you’re in the safest of hands.

Lessons

Malorie's Introduction

3 mins

Malorie introduces the course aims and explains why she became a writer of Young Adult fiction.

Process

9 mins

What to write, how to write and a fun writing game to help you generate and develop ideas.

Influences

7 mins

Discover the early reading that inspired Malorie, and how you can expand your reading too.

Where do ideas come from?

9 mins

Learn how to uncover stories around you, and discover what sparked Malorie’s best-known books.

Theme

7 mins

Add heart to your story with an idea that runs through your story like words through a stick of rock.

Story vs plot

10 mins

Understand the difference between story and plot with examples from Malorie’s writing.

Genre

10 mins

Meet the variety of genres within Young Adult fiction and learn to identify their key tropes.

Story structure: part one

10 mins

How to create a brilliant beginning, middle and end – whichever order you choose to tell them in.

Story structure: part two

9 mins

Go beyond beginning, middle and end and dive in to the seven stages of plot – from stasis to resolution.

10.

Story structure: part three

13 mins

Malorie goes through her method of plotting with index cards, using Pig-Heart Boy as a case study.

11.

Character & characterisation

14 mins

Malorie shares tips and exercises to flesh your characters out into relatable, believable people.

12.

Character informs plot or plot informs character?

11 mins

Explore how they impact one another and recognise when to let your characters take over.

13.

A writer’s relationship with their characters

7 mins

Learn to love your characters and distinguish where your voice ends and theirs start.

14.

Protagonists, antagonists & antiheroes

7 mins

How to build a credible young adult protagonist (or antihero) and the character who gets in their way.

15.

Tools for conveying characters

13 mins

Learn what, how and when to communicate things about your characters to the reader.

16.

Dialogue as function

9 mins

Use your characters’ speech to drive plot and reveal information about themselves and others.

17.

Dialect, big words, bad language & everyday slang

9 mins

How to use idiosyncrasies, regionalisms and slang to add tone, texture and an element of truth.

18.

Style, setting & substance

16 mins

Build a foundation for your story using the ‘seven plots’ and decorate with your unique writing style.

19.

Representation

14 mins

Understand the importance of representation in literature and how to incorporate it with authenticity.

20.

Tense & viewpoint

8 mins

Are you looking back or writing the present? Who’s telling the story? Understand what’s best for your story.

21.

Narrative forms

8 mins

Decide what format is right for your story – letters, diary, narrative, graphic novel, script or verse.

22.

The craft and art of writing

9 mins

Writing is where imagination meets determination. Identify what you can learn, and what you must feel.

23.

Dealing with writers block

8 mins

Discover Malorie’s tried and tested tricks for climbing out of the hole that writers fear most.

24.

The business of writing, part one: before publication

12 mins

Malorie’s advice on how to prepare and submit your work to agents and publishers.

25.

The business of writing, part two: after publication

15 mins

Promotion, school visits and taking ownership of your influence as an author.

26.

Malorie's conclusion

1 min

Malorie sums up what you’ve learnt and gives one final piece of advice…

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Course notes

121 pages

Download the PDF and discover the fundamentals of storytelling.

What people are saying

I love her explanation and the easy & understandable breakdowns. The content was easy to access and of high quality, all round excellent.

- Bradley Hession

Wonderful advice on characterisation.

- Jenny Ireland

Loved the way it was broken down, excellent examples to refer to, thought-provoking exercises and brilliant content. So inspiring.

- Sandra Lieberman

The course breaks every part of writing into small, digestible parts. It covers everything in detail with great real-world examples from Malorie.

- Alle Desveaux

Malorie is so easy to watch and understand. I feel like she's sharing something so special and it's deeply generous of her. I feel enlightened and inspired!

- Kate

Malorie Blackman is an engaging and inspiring speaker. Her advice is practical and the course notes and activities are detailed, helpful and fun.

- M.E.R

Malorie Blackman is very professional, emphatic, inspiring, honest and very entertaining.

- Verena Prym

I have already implemented some of Malorie's advice around structure and it’s definitely been extremely helpful to me. Her manner is warm and encouraging so it’s a pleasure to listen to her.

- Julia S

Malorie is so warm and open sharing her knowledge and experience

- Lisa Black

I like Malorie's easy manner, not patronising but informative and supportive. She's interesting and generous in her willingness to share her knowledge.

- Bev Murrill

Malorie's course was very extensive, covering everything a beginner needs to know about constructing a novel, not just for young adults.

- Alan B

Her material is thorough and practical and the way she delivers it very clear and engaging. She's really boosted my confidence too.

- Anon

Want to kickstart someone’s writing career? Let them learn from the greatest.

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