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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NO SNOWBALL!: Dramatic Irony with a Healthy Dose of Contrast
Isabella Kung’s debut author-illustrator picture book NO FUZZBALL! is a masterclass in how to use dramatic irony to tell a laugh-out-loud comedic story using a well orchestrated combination of words and images.
Observing the World: A Q&A with Author-Illustrator Isabella Kung, the Creator of the NoFuzzball! Series
I think in order to capture the essence of a person, an environment, or even an emotion, a creator must observe and try to learn all its nuances.
Building to the Perfect Irreconcilable Goods Crisis: The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho
By setting up a compelling story question in the reader’s mind, and then increasing the stakes throughout the second act, Joanna Ho has crafted the perfect crisis with its excellent Irreconcilable Goods options.
Adding Depth Through Revision: A Q&A with Joanna Ho
The more specific a story, the more universal it becomes. This is one of the most enduring bits of writing advice I have ever received. When we can write to one particular story, experience, character with specific detail and nuance, it makes it real. It feels true. There are always spaces to find our shared humanity, and this is only possible when we come to understand the richness around us.
Playing with Romantic Tropes in YA: Love and Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura
Sugiura uses a combination of tropes to effectively push the romance forward while simultaneously creating seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Striving for Unfiltered Vulnerability: A Q&A with Misa Sugiura
"I create my characters’ flaws, misconceptions, and spiritual wounds around a theme or a question that interests me, and then I give them a personal conflict that directly challenges those flaws, misconceptions, and wounds. After that, it’s a matter of developing broader challenges, events, relationships, and conflicts that can revolve around the same theme." ~ Misa Sugiura
Learning from 2022 Picture Books That Soar High with Craft
Diverse group of authors highlight craft elements in their latest books that you can integrate into your own writing or illustrating.
Picture Book Mentor Texts: Making 2nd Person POV Sing in How To Wear a Sari
HOW TO WEAR A SARI is a charming how-to guide for wearing a colorful, twinkly, silky sari. It’s also a great mentor text for how to write an excellent picture book in 2nd person.
Follow Your Curiosity: A Q&A with Darshana Khiani
Follow your curiosity. Write and draw what you like. Know there are no set rules but it is important to understand the current book market. Picture book writing is all about how strong the concept is and then how well it is executed.
Nuance Through Extended Metaphor : Partly Cloudy by Tanita S. Davis
Fortunately, weather is something people of all ages intuitively understand when it comes to a metaphor for someone’s emotional state. Sunshine is happy, rain is sad, and stormy weather is, well, stormy. Readers easily connect the dots between weather and emotions. That makes it a great extended metaphor for a middle grade novel.
Emotional Resonance Is Key: A Q&A with Tanita S. Davis
A lot of people want to be allies, or seen as friendly and open to the idea of friendship across races, cultures and social strata. This idea of “just talk to each other” may seem like it’s wildly oversimplified, but it turns out that if you want to know someone, it really is that simple. You may be nothing like a diehard gardener or wide-eyed tween, but if you’re willing to see a potential connection between the two of you, it will be there.
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.
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.
Backstory in a Fast-Paced Novel: Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston
Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston is an excellent mentor text for how to interweave backstory, using multiple techniques, without slowing down the story one bit.
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?
SUMMER RETROSPECTIVE: SPARE AND LYRICAL STORYTELLING: FULL CICADA MOON, A NOVEL IN VERSE
Verse happily sacrifices parts of the story to the reader's imagination in an effort to draw a more immediate emotional response.
SUMMER RETROSPECTIVE: RELATABLE RELATIONSHIPS IN HELLO, UNIVERSE BY ERIN ENTRADA KELLY
Erin Entrada Kelly masterfully sets up a series of relationships that require her introverted main character, Virgil, to take a stand or forever feel like a failure.
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.
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.