Craft Articles

Join us in exploring others’ craft and building our own.

Here you will find explorations of mentor texts – articles that dive into specific craft elements in published books, interviews with authors, and tips on growing and improving as a writer.

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Guest Contributor 8/31/23 Guest Contributor 8/31/23

Pushing it One Step Further - Humor Techniques in Simon Sort of Says

Simon Sort of Says is my new favorite middle grade novel, a laugh-aloud story about the sole survivor of a mass school shooting. Did I just put the words laugh aloud and school shooting in the same sentence? I did. And I meant it. This isn’t just a book with a kid with a snarky tone. Or a great voice. This is a book that’s so funny I snorted. Humor and warmth are the undercurrent of this book. Simon and his family deal with events with humor. Simon connects with new friends through jokes and laughter. Ultimately, their connections and their ability to keep laughing helps them in the healing process.

Erin Nuttall 7/13/23 Erin Nuttall 7/13/23

Comedic Strategies for Writing Humor: Martha Brockenbrough’s Frank and the Masked Cat

Martha Brockenbrough’s chapter book Frank and the Masked Cat is objectively hilarious. By using situational humor, weird words, the juxtaposition of familiar words with unfamiliar uses, repetition, and multiple strategies at the same time Brockenbrough gives readers many layers of witty comedy.

Erin Nuttall 3/23/23 Erin Nuttall 3/23/23

Using a Small Thing to Big Effect: The Wreath in Linda Urban's Talk Santa to Me

Linda Urban’s stories are studded with angst, anguish, and hope, as well as problems, pathos, and humor. She is stellar at structuring stories so that something small, seemingly insignificant, becomes the integral to the climax and the protagonist’s understanding of the situation. In Talk Santa To Me, surprisingly, it’s a gaudy silver Christmas wreath that takes this hefty role.

Kristi Wright 12/9/21 Kristi Wright 12/9/21

Empathy and Irony: A Q&A with Stacey Lee

Empathy has its drawbacks, especially when reading the news, but on the plus side, I think it helps me create deeper characters. The secret for creating unforgettable characters is to give them impossible choices.

Erin Nuttall 10/28/21 Erin Nuttall 10/28/21

Humor and Heartache: Mary Winn Heider's Losers at the Center of the Galaxy

If you’d like a lesson in the unexpected you’d be hard-pressed to find a better model than Losers. Instead, we’re going to look at how despite (or with the assistance of) all the silly, Heider is able to put an ache and a depth into the stories of Winston and Louise.

Erin Nuttall 10/21/21 Erin Nuttall 10/21/21

The Wacky and the Unexpected: Q&A with Mary Winn Heider

"The biggest leap for me in my writing life happened when I got comfortable with failure. I wrote some disastrous things in grad school. But before that, my writing had gotten stagnant because I was too anxious about getting it right all the time. Allowing myself to fail gave me the freedom to take risks and make mistakes. Those mistakes, in turn, taught me how to write the way I want to write."