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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Writing Action Beyond the Play-by-Play: Dangerous Play by Emma Kress
Emma Kress’s debut YA novel, Dangerous Play, has plenty of action and a lot of games. It’s a book about a girls’ field hockey team who uses parkour to supplement their summer training, and puts those skills to use as vigilantes against perpetrators of sexual assault. It takes place over an entire hockey season, and Kress makes smart choices about how to condense the many field hockey games so that each one serves the story, especially by manipulating pacing and creating tension.
Feminist, Funny, and Fierce: Q&A with Emma Kress, Debut YA Author of Dangerous Play
I first heard Emma read from a chapter-book-in-progress, and her voice blew me away. Emma's writing as such attention to detail, such personality, such emotional resonance. She can write funny and serious--sometimes in the same sentence. Emma's debut YA novel, DANGEROUS PLAY comes out August 3, and I'm so glad we get a peek into Emma's brain and writing process. I highly recommend both DANGEROUS PLAY and Emma herself.
SUMMER RETROSPECTIVE: CHANGING POINTS OF VIEW IN THE PENDERWICKS
Birdsall establishes a strong narrative voice for her omniscient narrator in the opening pages, and then seamlessly slips from one point of view to another without losing the reader.
Summer Retrospective: CONNECTING READER AND CHARACTER IN GHOST BY JASON REYNOLDS
Soaking up the sun and reposting some favorite craft posts, starting with Jen Jobart's analysis of Jason Reynold's GHOST through the lens of Cheryl Klein's THE MAGIC WORDS craft book.
Deepening Character Relationships Through A Shared History: The Last Shadow Warrior by Sam Subity
Subity blends humor, action, Norse mythology, and character beautifully to make a story that’s sure to be a hit with middle grade readers.
Grounding Fantasy in the Familiar: An Interview with Sam Subity
With contemporary fantasy, it doesn't take such a stretch of the imagination for the reader to follow along when you blend the familiar with the unfamiliar.
Day Job Connection: Author Susan McCormick, Doctor
Dr. Susan McCormick: Accept the unexpected. Sometimes as a doctor, a diagnosis that had eluded me would appear in the night or while I was running or in the shower. These messages from my inner brain were always right. Similarly, accept any magic that pours from your fingers while writing, or any miracles that come while your brain is on break. These ideas from nowhere are often the best.
KidLit Craft Goes to the Movies: Endowed Objects in The Mitchells vs. The Machines
The moose is meaningful to both Dad and Katie, and the movie creates additional layers of meaning through the old movies (flashbacks) and the way the moose moves from person to person. We know what the moose means, so we can imagine what the characters are feeling, and ultimately, we feel it too.
Choosing the Right Words: Emily's Idea by Christine Evans
In her picture book Emily’s Idea, Christine Evans finds that elusive balance and creates a story with specificity AND room for the illustrator to tell their part of the story.
Crafting Magic From a Small Idea: A Q&A with Christine Evans
I choose the stories (fiction or nonfiction) that give me a fluttery feeling. It’s been true of all my projects so far. When an idea takes hold, you can’t shake it off, and you just have to learn more, then that’s the idea to follow.
Six Things Your Character with a Mental Illness Wants You to Know
Many kids that experience mental illnesses start developing symptoms as young teens--just when they’re at the age to encounter Young Adult literature. Through YA novels, writers can reach readers at this critical time. Young adult books can be a balm to teens struggling with mental health, offering disability representation, much-needed hope, and comfort in knowing that they’ll come through their darkest days… if we follow a few key guidelines. These six pointers are indispensable in creating an empathetic, accurate, and hopeful book with mental health themes.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Sidewriting Challenge Roundup
The authors and contributors we interviewed had so many wonderful sidewriting challenges, we thought we'd put them all in one place. Each exercise will have a link back to the original post so you can learn more about the author and how sidewriting works for them. Enjoy!
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: The Finale--Create a Dream Team of Defenders to Answer Your Inner Critic
Thank you for coming along on this sidewriting journey with us. We hope you’ve found some compelling exercises AND some compelling reasons for sidewriting. Just as every writer is different, the way each writer uses sidewriting is different--as you’ve seen from our contributors.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Your Favorites! (a crowdsourced post)
Writer Friends! You shared with us the ways you sidewrite, and we listened. It was so fun and enlightening to get the scoop on your favorite exercises and tricks to get deep into your characters and figure out your plot.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Entering Characters' Points of View with Amber Lough
Amber Lough: Sidewriting helps me most when the story starts to feel dry or forced, or if I feel like the characters are shutting me out. I also sidewrite when I am losing motivation, and in that case, I write about why I want to tell this story.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Ask "Why?" with Margaret Chiu Greanias
Margaret Chiu Greanias: Until I was asked to do this interview, I'd never heard of sidewriting. I thought maybe it was something only novelists did. But as I read Erin Nuttall's kick-off post, I realized sidewriting is something picture book writers could do too. And then, I realized it was something that I actually do do.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Messy Sidewriting with Kristi Wright
Kristi Wright: "Ultimately, you don’t need to be fancy and organized when it comes to sidewriting. It’s the thing that gets to be as messy as you want it to be. There’s no shame in it--no right way or wrong way. I’m always going to be the equivalent of Charlie Brown’s friend Pig-Pen when it comes to sidewriting, and I’m cool with that."
SIDWRITING TAKEOVER: Create a Travel Brochure and Journal Your Process with Evan Griffith
Evan Griffith: There’s usually a long period of exploratory writing after I get an idea and before I begin drafting. I’ll write random scenes, character studies, letters from my character to me, and so on, all to get a feel for the mood, tone, and style of the story. If the story takes shape through these exercises—and, crucially, if it holds my interest—then I feel more confident going into the drafting process.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Write an "I Am From" Poem with Beth Mitchell
The first time saw the benefit of sidewriting was when I took a course based on Lisa Cron’s Story Genius. In the third week, we were asked to write a scene showing how our protagonist’s misbelief took root. I’d thought about my characters’ misbeliefs before, of course, although I may have called them wounds, flaws, or needs. But I was amazed how much I learned from writing the origin story of that misbelief as a complete scene.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Start with a Glimmer with Sarah Aronson
When I don’t know the WHY behind a scene or a character, there is nothing more helpful than stepping away from the manuscript. When I am writing away from my story, I am free to explore my characters, setting, plot, theme…well everything. And since it doesn’t “count,” it also doesn’t have to be good—that is the permission slip I need.