Tell Your Story: Novels

Novels are an exciting genre in children’s literature, whether they are middle grade (ages 8-13) or  young adult (ages 13 and up.) There are seemingly endless novel categories, too: novels in verse, contemporary, horror, fantasy, historical fiction, mystery and narrative nonfiction.

Whatever your novel interest, we’ve got resources and workshops to help you begin, revise, plot, outline, receive feedback, develop characters and more.

No matter where you are on your journey, we’re glad you’re here.  We can give you the skills you need to create the very best novel for kids and teens.

Novel Workshops

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Explore Our Novel Workshops

Inspiring Children Through Story

“My picture book … deals with parents separating. One little boy, who parents recently divorced, went to bed with [it] many nights. This deeply moved me to know this picture book helped this little boy.”

“I tutor 2nd grade reluctant readers. My understanding of picture book structure and prose allows me to help them learn more than words. Rather than just read the story, we talk about it.”

“You mean I get to keep this book forever?”

…Spoken by a child in tears who was gifted with one of my books at a school visit and had never owned a book before.

“When I hear kids giggle while I’m reading [my book] I feel like I’ve done the job I intended to do.“

Novel Resources

Diana Murry
Visual Outlining

by Chris Tebbetts

Alisa Alering
5 Common World Building Mistakes

by Alisa Alering

Donna Janell Bowman
Perfectly Plotted

by Padma Venkatraman

Jennifer Gennari
Learning to Love Line Editing

By Jennifer Gennari

Don Tate
Imagining an Image System for Your novel in verse

by Cordelia Jensen

Miranda Paul
Lights, Camera, ACTION: The Importance of Starting in a Scene

by Kat Brzozowski

3 Questions With Laura Shovan About Using Breaks and Blank Spaces in Your Verse Novel or Poetry

3 Questions With Laura Shovan About Using Breaks and Blank Spaces in Your Verse Novel or Poetry

3 Questions With Meera Trehan and Sarah Kapit about Writing Multiple POV Novels

3 Questions With Meera Trehan and Sarah Kapit about Writing Multiple POV Novels

Using Multiple Perspectives in Your Novel: Some Examples

Using Multiple Perspectives in Your Novel: Some Examples

Whole Novel Workshop: How Your Mentor’s Letter Can Help Even Before the Workshop Begins

Whole Novel Workshop: How Your Mentor’s Letter Can Help Even Before the Workshop Begins

See All Novel Blogs from Our Faculty

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Stories from Our Highlights Foundation Alumni

Celebrating a Book Birthday with Nadia L. Hohn and TeMika Grooms

Celebrating a Book Birthday with Nadia L. Hohn and TeMika Grooms

Celebrating a Book Birthday with Anita Yasuda

Celebrating a Book Birthday with Anita Yasuda

Celebrating a Book Birthday with Nikki Shannon Smith

Celebrating a Book Birthday with Nikki Shannon Smith

Celebrating a Book Birthday with Lee Wind and Jieting Chen

Celebrating a Book Birthday with Lee Wind and Jieting Chen

See All Stories from Highlights Foundation Alumni

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The Highlights Foundation positively impacts children by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inform, educate, and inspire children to become their best selves.  Learn more about our impact.

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