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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Mapping Change in Character Relationships in Three Strike Summer by Skyler Schrempp
It can be argued that Skyler Schrempp’s debut novel, Three Strike Summer, is about baseball. Or poverty. Or migrants. Or summer. Or families trying their best to get by. Or unions. Or friendship. Or finding joy even in the hardships of life. And it is. It’s about all of these things, but my favorite part of the story is the story of sisters. Of Gloria and Jessamyn. Schrempp gives voice to a frustrating, loving, complicated relationship that grows, changes, and strengthens throughout the story.
Bridging the Gap Between Reader and History: A Q&A with Skyler Schrempp, author of Three Strike Summer
Skyler Schrempp: “I once read that George R. R. Martin talks about writers as “architects” or “gardeners”. Architects plan everything out before building and gardeners plant a bunch of things and see what grows well. I guess I see myself as more of a gardener than a panster! Pantser implies you’re really winging it, but I feel very intentional when I write…and it’s slow…like gardening.”
Establishing Shots: How Tim McCanna Sets Up Peach and Plum, Here We Come! for Success
In order to get early readers on board, Tim had to draw readers in from the very first page and show them what to expect from the book. His 38-word, two-spread introduction to the book is a master establishing shot that covers not just setting, but all the elements readers need to be pulled into a story.
Rhythm, Rhyme, and Summertime: A Q&A Peach and Plum, Here We Come! author Tim McCanna
Tim McCanna: "Trusting your intuition has to be earned by running into a lot of roadblocks and successfully finding your way through them. That’s true for any kind of writing."
“People, not plot”: Characterization in BIG RIG by Louise Hawes
In the spirit of Hazel’s focus on people, I want to examine how Hawes establishes such a large cast of memorable characters. In both the opening and in introducing new characters throughout the book, Hawes uses voice, descriptions, and mood to establish characters quickly.
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.
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.
The Magic Number Three: Brand-New Bubbe by Sarah Aronson
Numbers have power, magic, even. Not the abracadabra kind, but the kind that makes a reader sit up and pay attention even though they don’t know why. Sarah Aronson understands the power of the number three as a literary device and uses it masterfully in her picture book, Brand New Bubbe.
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.”
In Summary: Backstory
Backstory is a necessary part of telling a story, but how much to include and what to leave out can be complicated. It's rare in books for kids to have many pages of backstory in a row (though Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate does it with style). At KidLit Craft, we've explored backstory in many categories and genres. Here are our favorite posts about backstory.
In Summary: Picture Books from Start to Finish
into YA and picture books (and even some early readers and chapter books). Today, we're highlighting a range of picture book posts, from an overview of picture book elements to backmatter. Enjoy!
In Summary: Point of View
The 4th post in our "In Summary" series, collecting our best posts on point of view. These posts detail how different authors approach point of view, and tools they use to craft each point of view effectively.
Writing Effective Parents: The Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael Leali
Leali pulls off the parental balancing act with aplomb and creates a mom who tries, messes up, seeks forgiveness, and tries again. It is a master class in how to create a complex parental character.
Writing Lived Experience: A Q&A with Michael Leali
Every manuscript seems to have its own distinct journey, but every story I write begins with an awful lot of daydreaming, staring into space, jotting a phrase or two onto a sticky note, and coming up with a working title.
In Summary: Emotion
Our summer series, In Summary, draws together a number of posts from are archives on specific craft topics. Today's posts offer strategies for how to capture your characters' emotions, communicate them to your readers, and make your reader feel something too.
In Summary: Setting
Place matters. A story set in Paris can be transported to Atlanta, but the story fundamentally changes because of the geography, culture, language, idioms, weather, daylight hours, experience of time, and so much more. These posts explore how to establish settings and leverage them to enhance the reading experience.
In Summary: Beginnings
This summer, we're introducing a new series called In Summary, where we collect up some of our favorite posts on different craft topics. Our first post is on BEGINNINGS. Beginnings give writers the opportunity to capture a reader's attention, to draw them into the story, to give them a sense of the tone, style, and point of view, as well as whether the character is one they want to spend time with. Beginnings can be slow or fast, voicey or reflective, action-driven or character-driven. There's no one right way to start a story. But there are more and less effective openings for each particular story. These posts will help you determine what choices you have as you write and revise your opening and prompt you to experiment. We hope you get inspired!
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