THE CRAFT ESSAY
Noticing How an Author Tends to Write
WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU THINK THIS
PHOTOGRAPHER IS SENDING?
CONNECTION


Writers, some of the evidence you might be
mentioning doesn’t pertain to the content of the photo,
but to the craft of it—to the way the mother’s face is
turned to the camera, to the way the kids are turned
away on either side of her. The photographer could
have arranged the picture differently and it would
have sent a different message.
As literary essayists, it will pay off for you to
remember that authors, like photographers, often
convey more through their craft that through their
content. And remember—authors, like photographers,
do things on purpose. An author doesn’t throw in a
simile or repeat a phrase for no reason. The author
uses technique, just as the photographer does when
she turns the mother’s face this way or that, to convey
a message.
TEACHING POINT


Today you are going to begin writing a brand-new
essay, one that will prepare you even more for your
work in high school, and beyond. Today, we are going
to start studying the Author’s Craft essay, and I am
really excited. Not only is it great to flex and grow
your essay-writing muscles by trying out lots of
different types of essay writing, but examining and
analyzing author’s craft is just a really interesting
thing to do.
I want to teach you that when writing literary essays,
you have choices. One way to write an essay is to put
forward an idea that the story suggests—a theme.
Another way to write a literary essay is to focus on
the craft moves an author tends to use, and to write
an essay where you argue that the author’s craft
choices have a specific purpose or pattern.
TEACHING

You already know the 1st step—rereading a bit of your
text and see what kinds of craft moves you notice.

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You did this when we looked for craft as evidence for the
themes were were writing about.
However, for demonstration purposes, we will try and
focus on a different part of the text in “All Summer in
a Day” —a scene or character that I didn’t spend
much time on before.
Let’s look together at the scene with the sun in “All
Summer in a Day,” using our handout “Narrative
Writers Use Techniques Such As…” on page 22 as a
guide.
TEACHING

I’m going to focus on the scenes with the sun this
time, since for my last essay I focused a whole lot
on the rain.
“They were all nine years old, and if there had been
a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for
an hour and showed its face to the stunned world,
they could not recall. Sometimes, at night, she
heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew
they were dreaming and remembering gold or a
yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the
world with. She knew though they remembered a
warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body,
in the arms and legs and trembling hands.”
TEACHING


What move did Bradbury make in the first underlined
portion?
What move did Bradbury make in the 2nd underlined
portion?
“They were all nine years old, and if there had been a
day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour
and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not
recall. Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in
remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and
remembering gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large
enough to buy the world with. She knew though they
remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in
the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands.”
TEACHING
We then begin to think about why he is making
those choices to include metaphor, simile, and
descriptive language—that’s the author’s
purpose.
 Use the prompts from handout titled “Narrative
Writers Aim Toward Goals Such As” on page 23
to guide your thinking
 Now, skim through the rest of the text, lingering
on places where you think are more examples of
these craft moves—similes and metaphors and
descriptive language.


What did you notice?
TEACHING

Here are some places in the short story that I
noticed:
The scene where he describes the sun coming out.
There is a bunch of description there; it says the sun
‘was the color of flaming bronze,’ and that the jungle
‘burned with sunlight,’ and it says the sun burnt the
children ‘like a warm iron’ (another simile).
 The scene where he says the children are playing in
the sun. There’s a simile when it says the children
played ‘like animals escaped from their caves,’ and
there’s a whole list of descriptive actions, like
running and falling and squinting and breathing and
listening and looking.


This part isn’t describing the sun, but it is describing the
effect the sun has on the kids. And through it all are similes
and descriptive language.
TEACHING

Let’s debrief…
First, choose a spot to study, naming the craft movies
you see.
 Next, skim the text, pausing in places that made
sense, looking for other examples of these craft
moves.
 Don’t be afraid to write down what you’re thinking.

TEACHING
Here is an example I wrote…
Bradbury uses metaphor throughout “All Summer in a Day.”
He describes the sun “like a lemon,” and “like a flower,”
and when the children are playing in the sun he describes
them “like animals escaped from their caves.” One effect of
this device is to create a vivid setting in the reader’s mind.
When he says the sun is like a lemon, I know exactly what
that looks like, just how bright and yellow it shines.
Another effect is to raise the stakes by showing the sun as
something so good, and maybe even a little wild. For
example, when the children get into the sun they act like
freed animals—this simile really shows how the sun frees
the children from their own caves. This raises the stakes
because it shows the sun as something so desirable that the
children might do anything to get it.
LINK
How to Write an Author’s Craft Essay

Collect entries on the author’s craft.
Choose a spot in the text to study and name a
few craft moves you see the author using.
 Look for patterns of craft across the text in
similar scenes.

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A good goal for you today is to identify at least 2 craft
moves that you see the author using over and over.
Complete the craft moves organizer for 2 craft moves.
You will likely revise, so don’t get too hung up if you
are writing about some craft moves that you are not
feeling committed to. This is due tomorrow if you
don’t finish in class.
THE CRAFT ESSAY
9a
Noticing How an Author Tends to Write
CONNECTION

Right now, work with a partner(s) to show what
craft moves wrote about yesterday. Discuss the
parts of the text that you noticed working
together to fit a pattern.
TEACHING
So far, you’ve looked for craft moves that you’ve
seen repeated in a text, so that you can start to
think about what the author tends to do as a
writer.
 BUT—there is something else just as powerful--and it is the exact opposite of what I taught you.
 While patterns of craft are important to notice, so
are stand-alone exceptions—times when the
author does something that they never or rarely
do again in the text.

TEACHING

Like in “All Summer in a Day” when the kids finally
see the sun, finally get outside to play and bask in it,
Bradbury describes what they did with a run-on
sentence of sorts, several ideas, linked with an and.
“But they were running and turning their faces up to the sky
and feeling the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron…”

This run-on almost shows an urgency, an urgency
because the kids only have two hours to enjoy the
sun, and then that’s it, for seven more years. How
much can they squeeze in, how much can they do, in
these two hours? This is not a pattern of Bradbury’s,
but the very fact that it stands out so much makes it
super interesting to study.
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT
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Now, see if you and your partner can find some
moments in your text that you think might be
standout exceptions!
Your job is to find as many ideas as possible and
write about those ideas as much as possible.
Don’t labor over little bits, but write more about
the places you do find about different craft
moves.
WRITING DAY/9A
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Collect AT LEAST 2 more entries of the author’s
craft. Complete your organizer for each entry.
You will want at least 4 entries minimum.
It’s up to you whether you focus on stand-alone
exceptions or patterns or both.
When needed, discuss with your partners the
craft moves you see your author using, and what
you think the significance of those choices might
be.