Pumpkinlight School of Storytelling
One-on-One Instruction • For Ages 13-97
The Pumpkinlight School of Storytelling™ is a collection of one-on-one mentoring programs designed to teach the art of spooky storytelling—for personal & professional projects
2027/2028 Curriculum
101 | Idea Development
FOUNDATIONAL • Learn how to generate and develop story ideas, regardless of how rudimentary they may seem at first. Understand how to identify which ideas have substance and potential, and how to refine your list into a single idea.
102 | Character & World Creation
FOUNDATIONAL • Create your story’s characters and the world they live in. Understand the difference between protagonists and antagonists, and how to create contrast/conflict within each group. Develop the environments they live in, pulling from real life.
201 | Fiction Writing
INTERMEDIATE • Develop your story idea into a general plot, then an outline, followed by chapters. Identify the natural “breaks” in your story, learn about downtime and why it’s so important to give your characters, and the reader, time to recap and regroup.
202 | Illustration
INTERMEDIATE • Bring to life your characters, and the world they live in, in a visual manner. Learn why perfection is an illustrator’s worst enemy and embrace imperfection as a reflection of character and environment personality.
301 | Book Design & Self-Publishing
ADVANCED • Give your tale a place to live! Learn how to create a book using Adobe InDesign—from font selection and layout to drop-caps, inserting illustrations, and front- and end-matter, paper selection, and more.
302 | Live Storytelling
ADVANCED • There’s more to telling a story than simply reading it, and this course will identify everything from ambiance and props to audience participation and interactivity, narrative flow, knowing your audience, and more.
303 | Voice Acting & Narration
ADVANCED • Bring your characters to life by giving them unique voices to listen to. Understand the difference between telling a story and reciting dialogue, how to infuse personality into different characters, the equipment needed, and more.
Choose Any Three
CAPSTONE 1 • Interested in more than one program? Choose the three that will best suit your needs and save money in the process—students who enroll in this option will save 10% when compared to individual courses. Note: conducted over a six-month period.
Full Course of Study
CAPSTONE 2 • Do you need the full gamut of storytelling training? Enroll in the full course of study and save 15% when compared to taking each course by itself. Plus, you’ll receive a special certificate of completion. Note: conducted over a 12-month period.
2027/2028 Schedule
Our schedule follows traditional academia, i.e., a fall-through-spring schedule. Not all programs will be available at the same time & some will require six months or more to complete.
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Updates arriving soon!
“As the evening creeps into night, we tell tales by candle’s light. But we never forget at story’s height, to fill each brain with fun-filled fright!”
The Curious Mr. Blend™, lead mentor
The School’s Origin
Our school was born from the development of the fictitious village of Pumpkinlight Cove, ME. But it doesn’t end there—the village’s online presence serves as a companion website to the spooky-and-fictional storytelling of The Curious Mr. Blend™: resident storyteller for the Cove and our school’s lead mentor.
All of his tales will take place in and around the Cove, which allows the companion website to immerse the reader in aspects of the village not contained in his books, thereby enriching the overall reading experiences.
