How I Use Mentor Texts for Craft

By Nell Cross Beckerman

Today, I want to share one way I use mentor texts in a granular, practical way—to get first words on the page. Beginnings (and endings!) are often the hardest parts of writing, so any strategy that makes them easier? I’m in.

I wrote my first three books—Down Under the Pier, When the Sky Glows, and Caves—in my “cloffice,” a closet office where I could at least close the door. Later, we moved to a new house where I finally had a real office. Which was great…until I realized when I turned on my computer, nothing was happening to turn the blank screen to one filled withwords. I had writer’s block! 

Around that time, I’d been inspired by walks on my local hiking trail called the Park to Playa trail. I knew I wanted to write a story about how paths and parks connect communities and bring us closer to nature. But for the first time, I couldn’t figure out how to start.

So I did what I often do when I’m stuck with a publishing challenge: I asked myself, What would Kate Messner do? (WWKMD.)

Ever since discovering Over and Under the Snow (Chronicle, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal), Kate has been one of my mentors-from-afar. I love the book so much I could nearly recite it by heart. It’s a lyrical journey of a parent and child skiing through snowy woods, observing animals above and below the snow (the “subnivean zone”). Along the way, the family bond deepens, the setting feels intimate and local, and the reader learns STEM concepts without realizing they learning at all. Perfection.

Kate’s opening lines are simple and magical:

Over the snow I glide.
Into woods frosted fresh and white.

Instead of trying to imitate the story, I studied the craft. I never formally studied creative writing in college and I don’t have a background in education—I’m a former documentary TV producer—but I’ve been a reader my whole life, and I know what kind of sounds my ear likes to hear and my mouth likes to say. I’m still learning technical terms like “consonance” and “assonance”.

In layman’s terms, I noticed:

• The repeated long “O” sounds (over, snow)

• The echoed long “I” in I glide and white

• The alliteration in frosted fresh

• The inverted sentence structure: Over the snow I glide instead of I glide over the snow

Then I tried it myself—using Kate’s structure, but swapping in my own words.

Kate’s words	My words
Over the snow I glide.	Up the path I climb.  (repeating “p” sounds)
Into woods frosted fresh and white.	Stepping from pavement to earth, leaving the river of cars behind.  (Continuing the “p” sounds, repeating “v” sounds, repeating “I” sound in “climb” and “behind”)

As you can see, I already have veered off from Kate’s structure in the second line. Turns out, I just needed her to hold my hand for that very first line to get my fingers in action.

Those early lines didn’t survive revision, and there’s no visible trace of Over and Under the Snow in From Park to Playa: The Trails That Connect Us (Abrams, illustrated by Sophie Diao). But Kate’s book gave me the building blocks I needed to begin.

How to Use This Strategy in Your Own Writing

If you find yourself staring at blank screen with an idea lodged in your head, try this:

• Choose a mentor text you love, especially one with a tone or structure that fits your project.

• Copy the text in full, by typing it out or writing it longhand. Follow line breaks and page turns. This will help the style seep into your creativity bank.

• Study the opening lines closely. Listen for repeated sounds, rhythm, and sentence structure.

• Swap in your own words, Mad Libs–style, using the same structure. Verb, noun, adjective, etc!

• Let go of the result. This is a warm-up, not a final draft. Just gets words on the page so you can get your idea out.

I hope it goes without saying—don’t do this for a full book! That would be creepy, and I’m definitely not advocating anything that smells like plagiarism in any way shape or form.

I’ve only used this method once, but it’s a tool I’m grateful to have in my toolbox. And sometimes, that’s all you need—a mentor text to hold your hand just long enough to get you started.

There are so many ways to use mentor texts to help your writing.  I hope you’ll join me and NF authors Laura Purdie Salas (please link to https://laurasalas.com/), Michelle Schaub (please link to https://www.michelleschaub.com), and Jolene Gutiérrez (https://www.jolenegutierrez.com/ ) as we reprise our NCTE panel Writers Inspiring Writers: How Both Authors and Students Use Mentor Texts to Reach Their Writing Dreams, hosted with writing prompt breaks from the Southern Nevada Writing Project (https://snwp.org/), offered for free on Zoom. Visit NellCrossBeckerman.com for details to sign up.

If you’ve tried something like this, I’d love to hear about it. What mentor text helped unlock your writing?

Nell Cross Beckerman is the author of Scholastic’s multi-award-winning series, Adventure Through Nature (Caves, Volcanoes, and Forests) and the forthcoming Coyote & Me (Beach Lane Books, illustrated by Yas Imamura.) Sign up for book, teaching, and event updates at NellCrossBeckerman.com [photo of Forests cover]