KidLit Craft Podcast

Anne-Marie sits down with middle grade author Michael Leali to talk everything MFA: what programs are out there, why you might want one, our MFA stories, how to apply, and Michael's new MFA in Writing for Young Readers Bootcamp, offered through University of San Francisco. REGISTER FOR MFA BOOT CAMP, taught by Michael Leali Things we talk about: MFA Programs in writing for children Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in WCYA University of San Francisco, MFAY Hamline University, MFAC Simmons University The New School University of Reno, Nevada Emerson College, Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing (YA track). We talk about this being a residential program, but this is a fully online program. The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Anne-Marie's MFA application Critical Essay Part 1, Part 2 Another example of a critical essay-turned-KLC craft article on character motivation Find Michael at michaelleali.com. Interested in finding more about working one-on-one with Michael or Anne-Marie? Email Anne-Marie at [email protected], and she'll point you in the right direction. Want to support the podcast? Buy us a coffee!  

Episode 12 In our last episode of season 2, Erin and Anne-Marie take a closer look at THE END of Thieves’ Gambit, specifically, how Kayvion Lewis creates a satisfying ending for this novel and at the same time sets up the sequel.   Han Solo in carbonite The Twilight series Kurt Vonnegut–The Shape of Stories How I Met Your Mother–Slap Bet   Upcoming KidLit Craft Events “The Sticky Note Plot,” taught by award-winning YA and MG author David Macinnis Gill–May 10, 2025, noon-1:30pm Pacific/3-4:30pm Eastern Ask the Author Book Club with Lindsay Lackey–NOTE: NEW DATE–May 13, 2025, 4:30-5:45pm Pacific/7:30-8:45 Eastern  “Building a Novel with Touchstone Moments,” taught by award-winning middle grade author Lindsay Lackey–NOTE NEW DATE AND TIME: May 27, 2025, 9:30-11am Pacific/12:30-2pm Eastern Register for summer classes! More info here: kidlitcraft.com/classes Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast! Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Episode 11   We’re gathering the people with essential skills, making a plan, anticipating obstacles, doing reconnaissance, and pulling off a heist. Erin and Anne-Marie break down the elements needed for a heist and analyze how Kayvion Lewis designed and executed the (writing of the) sarcophagus heist in Thieves’ Gambit.   Things we talk about: Ocean’s Eleven Ask the Author Book Club with Lindsay Lackey–NOTE: NEW DATE–May 13, 2025, 4:30-5:45pm Pacific/7:30-8:45 Eastern  “Building a Novel with Touchstone Moments,” taught by award-winning middle grade author Lindsay Lackey–NOTE NEW DATE AND TIME: May 27, 2025, 9:30-11am Pacific/12:30-2pm Eastern Summer Classes are now open for registration! kidlitcraft.com/classes   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast! Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Episode 10 Pacing scenes and chapters in an action/thriller might seem to be all about how to move through the story as fast as possible, but in this episode, Anne-Marie and Erin focus on controlling the pace, why you want slower moments, and how to move fast without sacrificing clarity or emotional resonance.   Things we talk about: Dopesick Henry James Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton The Golden Bowl by Henry James Mission: Impossible 2 Dangerous Play by Emma Kress   Register for our Ask the Author Book Club at kidlitcraft.com/book-club Register for our April 26 workshop, “Building a Novel with Touchstone Moments,” taught by award-winning middle grade author Lindsay Lackey   Summer Classes are now open for registration! kidlitcraft.com/classes   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast! Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

The pacing of a story determines how a story feels to read, and writers get to control that pacing by placing story elements at certain moments in the book and by how they move from chapter to chapter or scene to scene. In this episode, Anne-Marie and Erin explore how Kayvion Lewis keeps the pace fast and the tension high.   Books we talk about: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Nina Lacour’s books (like We Are Okay and Watch Over Me) The Davinci Code by Dan Brown David Gill Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (our blog post on how Christie keeps tension in the story) Murder on the Orient Express film (trailer)    Erin’s percentages for overall structure and pacing: Hook–1% pg 2 Gambit invite Inciting Incident–10% Mom kidnapped First Game of Gambit–13% Intro to Thieves–14% Romantic intro–16% pg 59 2nd Game–Museum–21%  Character Reveal–27% unwilling to leave injured player even risking gambit loss 3rd Game Train–42% Plan Heist 3rd Game—50% New Info–64% pg 249 Big Obstacle-70% (pg256) handcuffed to balcony Kiss–80% Mom’s 1st betrayal–Comes at 88% Double Cross the Gambit–89% Twist/ Devroe’s betrayal–94% Mom’s 2nd betrayal–comes at 98% Register for our Ask the Author Book Club at kidlitcraft.com/book-club Register for our FREE March 29 workshop, “Making Emotions Concrete,” taught by Anne-Marie Register for our April 26 workshop, “Building a Novel with Touchstone Moments,” taught by Lindsay Lackey   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast! Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Action scenes in a thriller novel need to be fast-paced, but fast-paced means more than lots of really quick actions in a row. Erin and Anne-Marie break down three different kinds of action scenes in Thieves’ Gambit to find tips and tricks for hitting the perfect sweet spot of pacing.   Books we talk about: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins   Register for our Ask the Author Book Club at kidlitcraft.com/book-club   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast! Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Like character arcs and story arcs, relationship arcs can span the course of the novel, explore themes, reveal and challenge the main character, and complicate plot lines. In Episode 7, Erin and Anne-Marie examine Ross’s friendship arc with Noelia and her romance arc with Devroe.   Things we mention in this episode KLC’s Ask the Author Book Club, February 25 guest author is Michael Leali Our episode on Romance in Buffalo Flats (Season 1, Episode 8) Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the movie) Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the series) The movie with sexy banter during fight scenes with Ryan Reynolds, the Rock, and Gal Gadot: Red Notice Emma Kress and her YA novel Dangerous Play   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast! Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Introducing a lot of characters can lead to a muddle in readers’ minds. Erin and Anne-Marie explore why you may want to use a big cast, identify pitfalls to avoid, and break down how Kayvion Lewis introduces the nine teen thieves in Thieves’ Gambit in a way that draws readers in rather than confuses them.   Books we mention in this episode (affiliate links): One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (also see Erin’s craft article on pacing and plot in Inheritance Games) First Rule of Climate Club by Carrie Firestone Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall  (also see Anne-Marie’s craft article on POV in The Penderwicks) The Lovely War by Julie Berry   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast! Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

In Episode 5, Erin and Anne-Marie examine the complicated family relationships in Thieves’ Gambit and explore why to use them, how to introduce them for maximum effect, and how to leverage those relationships to create more tension without taking away the main character’s agency.   Things we mention in the podcast: Our new website! kidlitcraft.com Writing Middle Grade for Picture Book Authors class Revise a Novel with Me! class Ask the Author Book Club        Jan 18: Stacey Lee, KILL HER TWICE        Feb 25: Michael Leali, THE TRUTH ABOUT TRIANGLES        Mar 25, Randy Ribay, EVERYTHING WE NEVER HAD        April 22, Lindsay Lackey, FARTHER THAN THE MOON. Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast! Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

In Season 1, we talked about internal and external desire, but how does it work when the character wants one thing at the beginning and switches to wanting something else? In Season 2, Episode 4, Erin and Anne-Marie dive into Kayvion Lewis’s YA thriller, Thieves’ Gambit, and dig into why it the main character Ross's shifting desire line works, as she goes from wanting to making friends at a summer gymnastics camp to winning an international thieving competition.   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast! Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Books we reference (affiliate links): Buffalo Flats by Martine Leavitt The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas   Support KidLit Craft   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

The opening of a book establishes The World As It Is, and Kayvion Lewis’s Thieves’ Gambit is no exception. Lewis masterfully establishes Ross Quest’s world of international thievery and how she relates to it, including her desire to escape into something more normal.   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Support KidLit Craft   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

We’re starting with theme! Kayvion Lewis introduces the theme of TRUST in the very first sentence of Thieves’ Gambit. In this episode, Erin and Anne-Marie explore the different strategies Lewis uses to explore the theme through characters, situations, and plot twists that challenge the main character Ross’s view of the world.   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Support KidLit Craft   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Introducing Season 2! We're taking a deep dive into Kavyion Lewis's YA thriller THIEVES’ GAMBIT. Find out why we chose it and what we have in store for this season.   Get your copy of THIEVES’ GAMBIT from Bookshop.org and support the podcast Find more content like this at kidlitcraft.com   Support KidLit Craft   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

In this second part of our interview with Martine Leavitt, the author of Buffalo Flats, she tells us about the mountains that inspire her, how to put emotion on the page, what the heck an objective correlative is, and much more, including what she’s working on now. Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats   The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall.   Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Episode 13: Martine Interview, Part 1   In this episode, we interview Martine Leavitt herself! She talks to us about her inspiration for Buffalo Flats, the painful process of writing it, and her secret to sticking with writing when it's hard. Martine had so much wisdom to share that we split the interview into two episodes. Watch for Part 2 next week.   Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats My Book of Life by Angel by Martine Leavitt Calvin by Martine Leavitt Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt A KidLit Craft article on Calvin   The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall.   Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts, tote bags, and drinkware (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Find out what's next for the KidLit Craft podcast, and exciting upcoming offerings from KidLit Craft.   Links: Sign up for the KidLit Craft Newsletter For information on the Writing MG for PB Authors class, email Anne-Marie at [email protected]. Or find out more here: INFO SHEET. KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats Our next podcast book: THIEVES’ GAMBIT by Kayvion Lewis The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall.   Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts, tote bags, and drinkware (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Throughout Buffalo Flats, Martine Leavitt uses rich language and evocative metaphors. We break down how and why she uses specific language and metaphors, and to what effect. We also talk about how to decide what language and metaphors to use in your own work.   Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats Lolo’s Light by Liz Garton Scanlon KidLit Craft post on language and metaphor in Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton KidLit Craft post on metaphors in Partly Cloudy by Tanita S. Davis The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall. Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

In Buffalo Flats, Rebecca belongs to a religious community that exists within the larger community in the Northwest Territories of Canada. In this episode we look at how Martine makes this community recognizable to those in it and accessible to those not, and we share our personal experiences reading about the community. The craft techniques we discuss apply not just to religious communities, but to any smaller group within a larger culture.   Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok Cinder by Marissa Meyer After the Shot Drops by Randy Ribay The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall. Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

We explore how Martine incorporates feminism into historical fiction in a way that respects history and characters, by finding friction points between the character’s desires and their experience of the world. Also, Erin emotes about corsets. Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats The book Erin references set in 15th-Century China is Lisa See’s Lady Tan’s Circle of Women. The story of Esther The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall.   Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

At risk of making Martine’s humor less funny, we take apart the humor in Buffalo Flats, from set-ups and punchlines to adding a funny twist, from individual sentences to full subplots. Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats Laurel & Hardy, “Chickens Come Home” Pizza Pirate This is Us The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall. Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles) Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

In this episode, we’re talking ROMANCE! We look at how Martine Leavitt sets up the balance between physical intimacy and emotional intimacy, uses contrast in secondary romances, and manages a perfectly balanced love triangle for the main character, Rebecca, in her YA novel Buffalo Flats. We also talk about how to write a perfect romantic kiss. Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats A KidLit Craft post on playing with tropes in romance The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall. Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

A novel requires more than just one main plot. In this episode, we look at three major subplots in Buffalo Flats by Martine Leavitt, one that involves Rebecca’s family, one that involves her local community, and one that involves the larger community. We look at how Martine weaves in these subplots and how she makes them work hard for the story and for Rebecca’s internal journey.   Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats A KidLit Craft post on using best friend subplots in middle grade novels Another look at subplots: thinking about threads introduced and carried through a story. The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall.   Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

In this mini-episode, we switch things up! Anne-Marie defines what a misbelief is, how it connects your character’s internal and external journey, and we see the concepts in action in Martine Leavitt’s YA novel, Buffalo Flats. Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats Writing exercises to explore a character’s misbelief Misbelief in Paul Acampora’s How to Avoid Extinction A different kind of controlling belief in How to Trap a Tiger, MG by Tae Keller and Calvin, YA by Martine Leavitt.   The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall.   Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Martine Leavitt’s YA novel Buffalo Flats is full of desire. In addition to wanting to own a piece of land, the main character, Rebecca, also wants to become the person God wants her to be, and that means loving other people, most of whom she finds annoying or unlovable. Erin walks through how the desire is introduced, what standard Rebecca is holding herself to, and what internal obstacles there are. She also examines how the external and internal desires conflict with each other and support each other.   Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats Hamilton A KidLit Craft post on Internal Journey The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall. Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Martine Leavitt’s YA novel Buffalo Flats is full of desire. The main character, Rebecca Leavitt, wants more than anything to own a piece of land near where her family is homesteading in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Erin traces how Martine introduces the external desire right from the start, where Rebecca runs into obstacles, and what the stakes are for Rebecca.   Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats Heroes Trailer: Save the Cheerleader, Save the World Newsies Louise Hawes on YEARNING Making Desire Concrete at KidLit Craft Another way to make desire concrete: Controlling Beliefs on KidLit Craft The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall.   Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

We’re three episodes in, and we’re taking a holiday break! Anne-Marie and Erin share how life is in podcast land and encourage you to read Buffalo Flats during the break. Starting in Episode 4 there will be spoilers. But the book is so rich that even if you listen first, you’ll have wonderful moments of discovery when you read the book. Links: KidLit Craft website Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall.   Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Erin takes us through the four scenes that make up the first chapter of Martine Leavitt’s YA novel Buffalo Flats. We talk desire line (both internal and external), character, setting, language, humor and more.   Links: Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats "Making Your Character's Desires Concrete" by Anne-Marie "Crafting Character: Discovering Desire" from KidLit Craft Backstory, articles from KidLit Craft   The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall. Music by Trevor Strohman.   Support KidLit Craft   Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

Erin takes us through the powerful opening scene of Martine Leavitt’s YA novel Buffalo Flats and examines how the elements of the first scene set up the entire novel–character, desire lines, themes, setting, voice, tone, humor, and more. Links: Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats The Sound of Music Hadestown Six A tor Nerd term: limited omniscient A KidLit Craft post on an omniscient narrator that use sections of limited omniscience. The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall.   Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)   Email us at [email protected] Sign up for our newsletter

At KidLit Craft we look at the mechanics of how writers do what they do, so we can improve our own writing. In this series, we’re taking a deep dive into Martine Leavitt’s YA novel Buffalo Flats. Erin has called this the perfect novel, so we’re tearing it apart to see how Martine put it together.  In this introductory episode, we cover how we met (at Vermont College of Fine Arts, where we both did MFAs in Writing for Children and Young Adults), how the podcast came about, why Buffalo Flats, and what you can expect from this series. Links: Martine Leavitt’s Buffalo Flats Vermont College of Fine Arts, Writing for Children and Young Adults Some of Anne-Marie’s writing about craft Some of Erin’s writing about craft A sample KidLit Craft Newsletter The KidLit Craft Podcast is hosted by Anne-Marie Strohman and Erin Nuttall. Email us at [email protected] Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)