WRITERS' RUMPUS

HOW TO MIDDLE GRADE

Hi! My name’s James Ponti, and I write Middle Grade book series such as City Spies and The Sherlock Society. I’m excited to share some pointers with you, but only with a major caveat. I know a bunch of writers and we all do it differently. I’m not talking plotting vs. pantsing, but radically different approaches.

SKIPSHOCK by Caroline O’Donoghue: A Master Class in World Building

For writers of fantasy, science fiction, and romance, this genre-blending novel is a master class in how to create details and imagery that pull readers into the plot and keep them riveted from first page to last, and importantly, leave them eager for more.

Writing Across Genres & Empowering Indie Authors: Author-Publisher Donna L. Martin

November 4, 2025 Hilary Elizabeth Margitich

I met children’s author and indie publisher Donna L. Martin through a #BookHero school library book drive I coordinate every March with fellow kidlit authors

Interview with LIMELIGHT author Renée M. LaTulippe

October 28, 2025 Monica Acker

Liesl in the Sound of Music; Beth in Little Women; Helena Landless in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. This seemingly random string of characters are

Interview with Ainissa Ramirez, author of SPARK … and a giveaway!

October 21, 2025 Laura Fineberg Cooper

Spark – Jim West’s Electrifying Adventures in Creating the Microphone is the first nonfiction picture book biography in the Black Innovators Series by MIT Kids Press, an imprint of Candlewick. Today is this remarkable book’s birthday, and I’m honored to welcome talented author Ainissa Ramirez to Writers’ Rumpus.