YA/MG Mysteries: Crafting The Child Detective

Class Description

Mysteries for middle grade and young adult readers present unique challenges and opportunities for the mystery writer. Child detectives may have curfews, cash flow problems, lack of legal knowledge or police contacts, disbelieving adults and overbearing parents. But they can also be surprisingly resourceful or have opportunities and assets that adults and professional sleuths don't have. In this workshop, you will get to know your young gumshoe better or create one from the ground up. We will study examples from classic and contemporary children's mysteries, develop a sleuth profile, consider the roles and types of sidekicks, discuss age-appropriate set innovative investigational methods, and even seek out the perfect crimes for our kid sleuths to solve. Finally, we will discuss hidden dangers in writing mysteries for kids (such as implausibility, unintentional parody, and the dreaded Scooby-Doo effect) and how to avoid them.

Scholarship Information

Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.

For more more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.