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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SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Riffing on Your Influences and Auditioning Your Characters with Jasmine A. Stirling
Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Anne-Marie Strohman Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Anne-Marie Strohman

SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Riffing on Your Influences and Auditioning Your Characters with Jasmine A. Stirling

I’m a plotter and and not a panster, but I’m also a writer who tends to completely re-write everything multiple times, and during those re-writes, I typically go in new directions. And every time a new direction comes up, more sidewriting opportunities arise.

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SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Asking the Right Questions with Louise Hawes
Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Erin Nuttall Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Erin Nuttall

SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Asking the Right Questions with Louise Hawes

I've finally discovered a way of dumping this inner perfectionist for at least part of the journey. I learned through trial and error that the keyboard, domain of the delete key, precursor to print, was where my perfectionist tended to take control. Pencil and paper was where my heart led the way. Which is why I began to "channel" my characters through freewriting. Like poetry, freewrites are a way I ditch my inner critic and make the switch from common sense to felt sense, from thoughts to emotions.

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SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Gossip Your Way Through the Story with Mary Winn Heider
Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Erin Nuttall Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Erin Nuttall

SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Gossip Your Way Through the Story with Mary Winn Heider

The sidewriting exercise I rely on most is really simple. I write a messy, gossipy version of my story (or scene or conflict). I handwrite it, like it’s a note I might pass in class, and I allow myself plenty of gossipy digressions. . . . I’ve developed a kind of outlining process I love, but sometimes I really crave the structure of gossip, the way it’s built on cause and effect.

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SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Why sidewrite? (And what is it anyway?)
Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Erin Nuttall Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Erin Nuttall

SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Why sidewrite? (And what is it anyway?)

If you’re a writer then you likely have feelings about sidewriting. You know, all that extra writing you do (or wonder if you should do) in order to figure out and enhance your story. Sidewriting can be anything from doing a story spine to free form writing to letters from your characters to hand writing a scene to word associations to writing from a new POV to plot graphs to--well, you get the idea. Sidewriting is any writing you do that (generally) doesn’t go into your actual manuscript.

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Tackling Different Styles and Genres in Children's Literature: A Q&A with Rajani LaRocca
Author Interview, Middle Grade, Picture Books Kristi Wright Author Interview, Middle Grade, Picture Books Kristi Wright

Tackling Different Styles and Genres in Children's Literature: A Q&A with Rajani LaRocca

"I’ve learned that the most important thing is to keep writing about what I love, what’s important to me, what I’m curious about. I’ve learned to put a piece of myself in every story. And I’ve learned that being vulnerable in my writing means that it will resonate with others."

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Building character quickly: Definition, Dialogue, Desire, and Doubt in Vicky Fang’s Layla and the Bots series
Middle Grade, Picture Books Anne-Marie Strohman Middle Grade, Picture Books Anne-Marie Strohman

Building character quickly: Definition, Dialogue, Desire, and Doubt in Vicky Fang’s Layla and the Bots series

In her early chapter book series Layla and the Bots, Vicky Fang manages to incorporate STEM topics, design thinking, AND interesting characters, all in just over 1500 words each. Let’s take a look at techniques she uses to create interesting and memorable characters.

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