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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Creating a Character Readers Love: Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee
Young Adult Kristi Wright Young Adult Kristi Wright

Creating a Character Readers Love: Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee

Since Lee uses first-person point of view to tell her stories, it’s her main character’s voice that’s in the driver’s seat. Reading her novels is a masterclass in how to do first-person narration well. However, you can use these techniques with third-person and even with omniscient narration. It’s all about elevating your prose to do more than just tell the reader what’s happening.

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How to Write a Crowd Scene: Rita Williams-Garcia’s A Sitting in St. James
Middle Grade, Young Adult Anne-Marie Strohman Middle Grade, Young Adult Anne-Marie Strohman

How to Write a Crowd Scene: Rita Williams-Garcia’s A Sitting in St. James

Rita Williams-Garcia masters the crowd scene--a dinner at the midpoint of the book. In a movie, it’s easy to see the crowd and feel the energy in the room. In fiction, it’s more complicated--you need to balance the minute and individual with the group so that readers feel grounded in the environment and in the particular characters’ interactions.

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It Starts with a Daydream: A Q&A with Rita Williams-Garcia
Author Interview, Middle Grade, Young Adult Anne-Marie Strohman Author Interview, Middle Grade, Young Adult Anne-Marie Strohman

It Starts with a Daydream: A Q&A with Rita Williams-Garcia

I fully transport myself from my reality into the world that I seek to create. In a word, I daydream. Deeply. I put myself with the character, close to the character, sometimes in the character, to taste the dirt when they're in the dust storm or feel the scratchy bristles of cane stalk whip my face. Then I write it. Later, I make adjustments, because what I have to understand is different from what the reader should feel. Sometimes I have to rein it in or pull back. It's not always the point that the reader should feel each and everything—but the writer must!  

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Making a Mystery that Mystifies: Part 2
Middle Grade, Young Adult Erin Nuttall Middle Grade, Young Adult Erin Nuttall

Making a Mystery that Mystifies: Part 2

Good mysteries are fun because they keep the reader guessing. One of the most important keys of writing a mystery is writing the story so the reader can try to solve it. Nothing’s more annoying than not being given clues to solve the mystery unless those clues are so obvious that there is no real mystery to be solved. The best way to achieve both goals is to give quality clues but constantly keep the reader guessing so they don’t recognize the clues for what they are.

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The Wacky and the Unexpected: Q&A with Mary Winn Heider
Author Interview, Middle Grade Erin Nuttall Author Interview, Middle Grade Erin Nuttall

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."

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Backstory for Writers
Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Anne-Marie Strohman Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Anne-Marie Strohman

Backstory for Writers

As writers, we hear all the time that you absolutely have to develop your characters’ backstories. We can spend a lot of time laboring over our characters’ pasts--creating, inventing, discovering--only to have someone read a draft and tell us: “Take out all the backstory!” Too much backstory can drag the pace of a story. Too little, and characters seem unmoored and unmotivated. So what to do?

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Confessions of a (Not So) Reformed Pantser
Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Kat St. Claire Middle Grade, Picture Books, Young Adult Kat St. Claire

Confessions of a (Not So) Reformed Pantser

"I understand more clearly that an outline need not be a construct that dominates my writing, a rigid form that must be adhered to, but it can be a tool to help manage what I write, to help me not get distracted or sidetracked, and instead work toward my goal--even if that goal isn’t completely clear to me as I shuffle, twist, and rearrange things on the page, the way I am prone to do."

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SUMMER RETROSPECTIVE: TAKING A PAGE OUT OF CLASSIC MYSTERIES TO KEEP TENSION ALIVE AND WELL
Middle Grade, Uncategorized, Young Adult Kristi Wright Middle Grade, Uncategorized, Young Adult Kristi Wright

SUMMER RETROSPECTIVE: TAKING A PAGE OUT OF CLASSIC MYSTERIES TO KEEP TENSION ALIVE AND WELL

To find good mentor text for “tension till the bitter end,” I went directly to one of my most beloved authors—Agatha Christie. Yes, I know. She’s not a middle grade author. However, when I was in my middle grade years, I devoured her books. Surely, that counts. Plus, for a mentor text, why not go straight to the Queen of Mystery?

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It’s All About the Set-Up: Secrets of the Sea by Evan Griffith
Picture Books Anne-Marie Strohman Picture Books Anne-Marie Strohman

It’s All About the Set-Up: Secrets of the Sea by Evan Griffith

In Secrets of the Sea, Evan Griffith keeps the story active by providing context to explain how important her work was, providing detailed descriptions and examples to prove his points about Jeanne, and employing effective sentences at the ends of spreads that make readers want to turn the page. In each instance, he sets up expectations, context, or questions that lead readers through a delightful story.

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The Secrets to a Great Non-Fiction Picture Book: Q&A with author Evan Griffith
Author Interview, Middle Grade, Picture Books Anne-Marie Strohman Author Interview, Middle Grade, Picture Books Anne-Marie Strohman

The Secrets to a Great Non-Fiction Picture Book: Q&A with author Evan Griffith

"This isn’t specific to PB writers, but I would just say to any writer: Be kind to yourself and your drafts. Many writers, myself included, struggle with self-criticism or perfectionism, so I try to give myself this advice daily. First drafts can and should be messy. Second and third and seventh drafts, too. There is beauty in the mess. Writing is mostly re-writing. When you’re feeling discouraged, reach out to some writer friends for support. Seek community."

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SUMMER RETROSPECTIVE: HERO’S JOURNEY ARCHETYPES IN BOOK SCAVENGER BY JENNIFER CHAMBLISS BERTMAN
Middle Grade Jen Jobart Middle Grade Jen Jobart

SUMMER RETROSPECTIVE: HERO’S JOURNEY ARCHETYPES IN BOOK SCAVENGER BY JENNIFER CHAMBLISS BERTMAN

By identifying archetypes in my story, I figure out how to strengthen the conflicts as I revise. In researching this blog post, I realized that I’d chosen the wrong character to be the Shadow in the novel I’m currently writing. Understanding the role of the Shadow archetype, and selecting a more appropriate character to play it, made my book’s external plot and main character’s growth path stronger.

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