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Creative Writing: Middle Grades

Story craft for writers ready to plan on purpose instead of by accident: the plot diagram as a real planning tool, characters built from want and contradiction instead of a single trait, point of view as a deliberate choice with real boundaries, pacing controlled through sentence length and detail, genre as a promise to the reader, and a first structured practice at sharing work and using feedback. Built for writers around 11-13.

0 of 11 lessons0 XP earned here

Module 1

The Plot Diagram, For Real

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  1. Up nextThe Shape of a StoryEvery story you've ever found satisfying follows close to the same five-part shape, whether or not you noticed it happening.6 min+30 XP
  2. 2Planning With the Diagram Before You WriteUsing the plot diagram as a genuine planning tool, not just a shape you notice after the fact.7 min+30 XP

Module 2

Characters With More Than One Note

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  1. 1The Want Underneath Every ChoiceA character only starts to feel real once a reader knows what they actually want — not just what happens to them.6 min+30 XP
  2. 2The Flaw That Makes Them RealA stated quirk and a real contradiction do very different jobs — only one of them creates tension.6 min+30 XP

Module 3

Point of View Is a Choice

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  1. 1First Person or Third Person?The same scene reads completely differently depending on whose head you're standing inside — and that's a choice, not a default.6 min+30 XP
  2. 2What Changes When You SwitchCommitting to a point of view means committing to what it can't tell the reader, not just what it can.6 min+30 XP

Module 4

Pacing on Purpose

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  1. 1Speeding a Scene UpPacing isn't about how much happens — it's about how the sentences make it feel like it's happening.6 min+30 XP
  2. 2Slowing a Scene DownThe same tools that speed a scene up — sentence length, detail, interior thought — work in reverse to slow one down.6 min+30 XP

Module 5

Trying On a Genre

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  1. 1What Changes by GenreGenre isn't just what a story is about — it's a set of promises to the reader about what kind of story they're getting.7 min+30 XP

Module 6

Sharing Work and Taking Feedback

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  1. 1Showing Someone Your StoryThe question you ask a reader shapes the feedback you get — and "what did you think?" is almost never the right one.5 min+30 XP
  2. 2Hearing What Did and Didn't LandThe hard part of feedback usually isn't getting it — it's deciding what to actually do with it afterward.6 min+30 XP