Plotting Your Children's Book | Build a Complete Story Outline

Outline your children's book so the middle doesn't fall apart.

You started strong. The opening came easily, you knew your character, and then somewhere around the middle the story stopped moving. So you rewrite the same 3 pages and wait to figure out what happens next.

That stall almost never comes from running out of ideas. It comes from writing without a plot underneath the story, so nothing tells you what the next scene has to do.

Plotting sounds like something only novelists with corkboards and index cards do. Children's books actually run on a handful of specific plot points, and once you can see them, you can lay out the whole story before you write the next scene.

This mini-course walks you through the 3 plot outlines that work for children's books, shows you how to tell which one your story needs, and hands you a universal outline you can use for a picture book, a chapter book, or a novel.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN...

1. The 3 plot outlines available for children's books, and how to tell which one your story needs
2. How to build a complete plot outline for your story, so you know what every scene is there to do
3. The universal plot outline that works for every children's story, whether it's a picture book, a chapter book, or a novel
4. How the Hero's Journey maps onto a children's book, and where writers usually get it wrong

WHAT YOU'LL RECEIVE...

1. Creating your plot outline video lesson
2. Using the Hero's Journey plot outline video lesson
3. Picture book plot outlines with video examples
4. Bonus Picture Book Storytime video lesson
5. Printer-friendly fillable PDF workbook
6. 2-page fillable universal story plot outline
7. Lifetime access to the course, at your own pace

Who's this mini-course for?

Writers who have an idea and a draft that keeps stalling. If you can picture your character and your opening scene but can't work out what has to happen between the beginning and the ending, this is the piece you're missing. It works whether you're writing a picture book, a chapter book, or a novel.

How soon will you get it?

Your login instructions arrive by email right after checkout. Your course invite follows within 24 to 48 hours, and it comes from Brooke Van Sickle via Podia, which hosts all our course content. Every course is self-paced with lifetime access, and if you've bought a course from us before, your existing login opens this one too.

This is an online course. Nothing physical will ship.

Please note: Our digital products are for personal use only. While you can use the fillable fields on your computer or print out the sheets yourself, you cannot share this with anyone else, make a copy, or use this for resale.