Narrative Techniques for Children’s Books (Spanish, Multisub)

Learn the basic components of a story to create tales for children
They say that to write children’s books you have to channel your inner child, free your imagination, look at the world in wonder, and, above all, play with the story. Natalia Méndez, editor, author, and teacher at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), has many years’ experience in turning ideas into children’s books and knows exactly how to create and edit great stories by playing with them, from the very first idea to final publication.

In this course, get an overview of the children’s publishing world and learn all the components and narrative structures to transform your ideas into children’s stories.

What will you learn in this online course?
Start the course by meeting Natalia Méndez, who shares her passion for reading, her professional background in children’s literature, and her main influences.

Go through a brief history of children’s books from their origin to the present day.

Get an introduction to literary genres, discover their role in good storytelling, and look at the editing process of a children’s book, from the moment an author’s original work arrives until the book finally goes to print.

Next, Natalia teaches you how to write a story step by step with the help of a fun game. Use some dice with different images on their sides as idea generators, to progress your story without any restrictions.
Learn the basic elements of a story and the different types of narrators to lay down the foundations of your written or graphic project.

Continue by analyzing the different types of narrative structures. Natalia thoroughly explains the traditional structure, the four-part or non-conflict structure, and the chain or list structure. Choose the one you like best to develop your story.

To finish, apply her handy tips to edit your project, choose a publisher to present it to and, also, discover some different self-publishing options.

What is this course’s project?
Write a short story using a game as an idea generator.

Who is this online course for?
Anyone interested in writing a children’s story and anybody who wants to discover the world of children’s literature in general.

Requirements and materials
No previous experience is required.

As for materials, you need a pen or pencil, colored pencils, blank sheets of paper, and glue.