January 23, 2024

Ep. 14: How to Build A Story: Jerry Craft on Writing Authentic Feel-Goods and Characters with Body Odor

50 minutes

Highlights from this episode with Jerry Craft include:

Why building a story is like building a house

How eavesdropping enriches characterization… and body odor

Evolution of attending book conferences as a fan to becoming a headline author

Tricks to building a series that continues to feel fresh and relevant

Resistance to writing stories with horrific events, especially while centering Black characters

Exploring small, mesmerizing details that will crack open a kid’s world

Jerry Craft is the NYT bestselling author and illustrator of many books for kids including graphic novels New Kid and Class Act. New Kid was the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal, and the only book in history to win the Newbery, the Kirkus Prize, AND the Coretta Scott King Author Award. He has been a copywriter, a cartoonist and creator of the beloved comic strip, Mama's Boyz, and even an editorial director at Sports Illustrated. Jerry was born in Harlem and grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City and now travels the world telling kids and their families about the importance of reading.

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