Skip to content
StoryStudio ChicagoStoryStudio Chicago
          • Writing Classes

            MULTI-WEEK

            • The Play's the Thing: The Basics of Playwriting with Andy Pederson $365.00
            • Writing Your Middle-Grade Novel with Kate Hannigan $365.00
            • Reckoning with Remembrance: On Memoir and Memory with Sheree Greer $365.00
            • Getting Over the Hump with Julia Fine $365.00

            SINGLE SESSION

            • Editor AMA with Anitra Budd $60.00
            • Genre-Bending Fiction with Lara Ehrlich $60.00
            • writing and publishing stories Getting Started and Keeping On: Generative Writing for Where You're At with Kathryn Kruse $60.00
            • Traditional Publishing: An Overview with Anitra Budd $60.00

            ALL CLASSES

            • The Play's the Thing: The Basics of Playwriting with Andy Pederson $365.00
            • PJ Seminar: A Master Class on Slippery Characters with Tania James $65.00
            • Editor AMA with Anitra Budd $60.00
            • PJ Seminar: Master Class on Taking the Ideas in Your Head to the Halls of Publishing with Rakesh Satyal $65.00
          • In-a-Year Programs
            • In-A-Year Student Publications
            • Memoir in a Year
            • Novel in a Year: First Draft with Abby Geni
            • Novel in a Year: Revise and Launch
            • Novel in a Year: YA/Middle Grade with Jame Klise
            • ONLINE: Novel in a Year: First Draft with Michael Zapata
            • Novel in a Year: First Draft with Rebecca Makkai
            • Essay Collection in a Year with Megan Stielstra
            • Novel in a Year: Speculative Fiction
          • about
            • Donate
            • Staff + Board
            • Instructors
            • Get Involved
            • FAQs
            • About Us
            • Contact Us
            • Stories Matter Foundation Against Racism
          • Workshops, Camps, Services
            • StoryStudio’s Writers Room
            • Manuscript Consultations
            • Youth Summer Camps
            • StoryBoard Workshop
          • Festival & Events
            • The Geek-Out Book Club
            • CHIRBy Awards
            • Writers Festival
            • Stories Matter Foundation Masters Award
          • Donate
        Filter
        Home / Classes / Creative Writing / Multi-Week

        Writing Your Middle-Grade Novel with Kate Hannigan

        $365.00

        Register Now
        Writing Your Middle-Grade Novel with Kate Hannigan
        Instructor: Kate Hannigan
        Categories Creative Writing, Fiction, Multi-Week Tags Middle grade, Novel

        In this six-week course you will focus on the crucial elements to writing your middle-grade novel.

        CLASS INFO
        DETAILS
        INSTRUCTOR
        QUESTIONS?
        NOTES
        CLASS INFO

        What is the middle-grade genre? Who is the audience? What makes it a special designation in literature for young adults? 

        In this six-week course taught by Kate Hannigan, author of six novels for kids including the Golden Kite Award-winning The Detective’s Assistant (Little, Brown), we will focus on the crucial elements to writing your middle-grade novel. We’ll move from brilliant concepts to bang-up endings, working through activities that can help shape projects and move them closer to being submission-ready for agents and editors.

        Students will turn ideas into outlines, outlines into pages, and pages into stories while considering what might catch a reader’s eye, or more deeply develop existing middle-grade projects.

         

        Week 1: Reading the field. We talk about middle-grade literature, dissect the how and why of books that received critical acclaim, and explore activities to sharpen our own ideas.

        Week 2: Outlining. We map out our story ideas and outline, from powerful starts to memorable finishes. 

        Week 3: Opening with a bang. We focus on the first chapter and what it takes to grab readers by the collar and pull them into our stories.

        Week 4: Touchpoints and through lines. We explore what resonates with readers and how to emphasize those points in our writing. 

        Week 5: Muddled middles. Sometimes the structure starts to sag as we move from opening to ending. We consider tools to keeping the momentum going.

        Week 6: Endings. We read examples of powerful endings, explore what makes a story linger in a reader’s mind, and work on how we can polish our own.

         

        Each week, we will spend some amount of time workshopping our projects, ranging from minor to major; some reading between classes will be required. Suggested reading prior to the start of classes that will help with deep dives are The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, and The Detective’s Assistant by Kate Hannigan.

        DETAILS
        Start Date

        March 2

        Day(s) of the Week

        Tuesday

        Class Times

        6:30pm – 9:00pm

        Number of Sessions

        6

        Location

        Zoom (online)

        Price

        $365

        INSTRUCTOR

        Kate Hannigan

        Chicago children’s author Kate Hannigan used to work for daily newspapers, but now she writes fiction and nonfiction for young readers. Her historical fantasy series for middle-grade, The League of Secret Heroes (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin), is part of a three-book series that blends superheroes, real-life women from World War II, and graphic novel elements. Book 1, Cape (2019), received the Oklahoma Book Award and was named to the Illinois READS State List. It’s followed by Book 2, Mask (2020), and Book 3, Boots (August 2021). Kate is also the author of the middle-grade graphic novel The Great Chicago Fire: Rising From the Ashes (First Second), part of the new “History Comics” nonfiction line. Her historical mystery for middle-grade, The Detective’s Assistant (Little, Brown), tells the story of America's first woman detective and won SCBWI's Golden Kite Award for best middle-grade novel and was a California Young Reader Medal nominee. She has eight more books forthcoming. Kate lives in Chicago with her husband, three kids, and two enthusiastic dogs. Visit her online at KateHannigan.com

        QUESTIONS?

          NOTES

          related classes

          Related Classes

          Creative Writing

          Getting Over the Hump with Julia Fine

          $365.00

          Creative Writing

          Creative Writing Essentials with Sarah Terez Rosenblum

          $500.00

          Creative Writing

          ONLINE: Down the Rabbit Hole with Scott Onak

          $250.00

          Creative Writing

          Writing Sex with Sarah Terez Rosenblum

          $60.00
          FOLLOW US

          Classes

          fiction Nonfiction online

          Communities

          donate teach Contact

          Useful links

          foundation gift cards Refunds

          newsletter Sign up

           

          SIGN UP HERE
          Legal Privacy Policy Cookies Misc

          © 2021 SkywayCreative.net for StoryStudio Chicago

          • Writing Classes
            • Fiction
            • Non-Fiction
            • All Classes
            • Online Classes
          • In-a-Year Programs
            • In-A-Year Student Publications
            • Memoir in a Year
            • Novel in a Year: First Draft with Abby Geni
            • Novel in a Year: Revise and Launch
            • Novel in a Year: YA/Middle Grade with Jame Klise
            • ONLINE: Novel in a Year: First Draft with Michael Zapata
            • Novel in a Year: First Draft with Rebecca Makkai
            • Essay Collection in a Year with Megan Stielstra
            • Novel in a Year: Speculative Fiction
          • about
            • Donate
            • Staff + Board
            • Instructors
            • Get Involved
            • FAQs
            • About Us
            • Contact Us
            • Stories Matter Foundation Against Racism
          • Workshops, Camps, Services
            • StoryStudio’s Writers Room
            • Manuscript Consultations
            • Youth Summer Camps
            • StoryBoard Workshop
          • Festival & Events
            • The Geek-Out Book Club
            • CHIRBy Awards
            • Writers Festival
            • Stories Matter Foundation Masters Award
          • Donate

          Login

          Lost your password?