Jenn Bailey: Crafting the Ultimate Payoff
KidLit Craft is back with another Snack-Sized Author Interview. In this series, we ask authors five quick questions that give us insight into their craft and process. Today we’re talking with author Jenn Bailey.
Jenn Bailey is a force of nature and a generous soul. She has a seemingly infinite capacity to help others and champion their learning and work. I’ve gotten to know her through Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she regularly works supporting the student experience during residencies and where she hosts monthly “book birthday” parties celebrating the work of VCFA’s Writing for Children and Young Adults program grads. Her generosity and enthusiasm extend to her writing practice, where her empathy for her characters and her commitment to craft shine. –Anne-Marie
Welcome, Jenn!
Question 1: What's your writing superpower?
I’m insatiably curious. I like to learn, and I want to know and understand things. This keeps ideas popping in my head. It also keeps me excited about our craft of writing and about our world. There are so many stories to read, hear, and tell! There will never be enough time. *sigh*
Question 2: What’s an element of craft you explored in your latest project and what tips can you share with other authors for growing in their use of that particular element?
I like how you linked this question to my last project because I did have a problem I needed to figure out. Let’s call the craft element Structure, or more accurately, Payoff. I had an issue in the final chapter of my latest manuscript – a moment that just wasn’t working. I saw it. My editor saw it. But no amount of rewriting or tweaking or brainstorming the scene fixed it. Finally, I realized that this moment didn’t have the emotional resonance or heft that I wanted because I hadn’t set it up to be as powerful as I wanted ahead of time. I needed to lay down a foundation for this climactic moment in earlier chapters.
Sometimes I think we might not see this kind of problem while we are drafting. So much of the story sits in our heads that we may not realize it’s not on the page…yet. So, if your climax feels a little flat, or if you aren’t feeling the emotional payoff you’ve expected, look at earlier chapters and scenes. Make sure you’ve written in the reasons that make this climax inevitable. And that you’ve positioned your main character in the kind of emotional state where this final scene will let readers feel a satisfactory resolution.
Question 3: If you could travel back in time, what advice would you give yourself as a new author?
There is SO MUCH. And things I learn every day. But here is something I would tell myself back then, and I still tell myself now. Children’s Publishing is a business. There are decisions made in this business that have nothing to do with your creativity, your art, or your ability to make wonderful works. Do not let business “Nos” keep you from performing creative “Yeses!”
Question 4: What inspires you as a writer?
Honestly, it’s the readers. I get excited about something or imagine a story and can’t wait to share it. I find a lot of joy in making connections with readers and sharing each other’s interests.
Question 5: What’s one book you think every kidlit author should read?
The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin.
If you want to understand pacing, stakes, tension, emotional payoff, a twist ending, and character voice, read this book! And for illustrators. Look at the layout. Look at how every bit of page surface is used. Embrace that gutter! Feel those page turns!
If you don’t believe me that this is a thoroughly engaging story, watch a child as it is read to them. My own child would lean into the pages and whisper, “It will be OK, Grover. Don’t worry.”
This book builds so much empathy. And it helps readers know we can have fears AND that there is bravery in the mere act of trying to overcome them.
Bonus Question: What can fans look forward to next?
The third book in my Henry series – Henry’s Picture-Perfect Day – is out on March 18!
It’s Picture Day for Classroom Ten! Mrs. Tanaka says that the class will take a perfect picture. And on Picture Day, everyone smiles. The trouble is that Henry does not feel perfect. His new shirt has stripes. He has never practiced smiling. And, worst of all, his front tooth is starting to wobble.
My favorite quote from a review: “A lovely message about imperfection!” — The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books.
Jenn Bailey is a multi-ALA award-winning author whose books have received starred reviews from Kirkus, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly. They have been named Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, been placed on state reading lists, and been chosen as Junior Library Guild Selections. Jenn received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She grew up roaming the shores and tidepools of Rhode Island, but now calls Leawood, Kansas, home. When she isn’t writing, baking pies, or walking her beloved Oliver, she is traveling in search of the perfect donut.
You can find her online on her website and on Instagram @jenncbailey
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