KidLit Craft Podcast

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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com Support KidLit Craft Patreon Buy T-shirts and sweatshirts (click on “small logo” or “big logo” for a range of styles)  

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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 editor@kidlitcraft.com. 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com 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 podcast@kidlitcraft.com Sign up for our newsletter