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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Keeping Things Real: Writing Authentic Realistic Fiction for Middle Graders
But engaging middle school readers requires more than an interesting plot—the characters and their experiences must feel authentic to and reflective of the complicated world in which the readers live.
Talk Writing with Me: a Q&A with Linda Urban, author of Talk Santa with Me
"My feeling is that if we are true to where our particular characters are developmentally, experientially, and philosophically, and we write from that place, we can write work that will connect with readers." --Linda Urban
On the Road with Louise Hawes, a Q&A
Louise Hawes: I often spend months (sometimes years) filling a notebook with my character's responses and thoughts before I begin writing an actual draft. That notebook is all in long-hand, as you know, and I don't stop to edit or erase anything. My characters' letters are in the first person, and result from a fluid, bodily connection from my heart to my hand to the page. In contrast, my draft will be typed on a laptop, the far less spontaneous product of me thinking and feeling my way into a story that features the character whose voice has already filled my notebook.
It's All About Play (and Gusto!): A Q&A with Sarah Aronson
Sarah Aronson: “No two projects emerge the same way, but I will commit to this: my process is aggressively playful. It’s my policy NEVER to say no to an idea until I’ve tried it out.”
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."
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."
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.
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.
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.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Exploring a Character's Misbelief with Jen Jobart
For me, writing a novel is about transferring the nebulous ideas in my head to a story that feels true for others. This can be a tricky process! Sidewriting helps me understand what my brain is trying to tell me.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Dive into Character Relationships with David Macinnis Gill
Sidewriting takes us away from linear and helps us explore divergent thoughts and also digs into our subconscious, which actually does know everything about our stories and is just waiting to tell us all about them.
SIDEWRITING TAKEOVER: Writing for Emotional Power with Sarah S. Davis
Sidewriting gives me ammo in a story to write a more deeply felt and developed emotional story.