Guest Post: Why to Write in Verse Post by Rebecca Caprara and Eva To The Max Book Giveaway

Happy Monday, Everyone! Today I’m excited to share a guest post by Rebecca Caprara to celebrate the release of her MG contemporary Eva To The Max. It sounds like an exciting story about dirt bike racing, and I'm looking forward to reading it. 

Here’s a blurb from the publisher: 

Motocross is Eva’s life. Nothing beats the rush she feels ripping it up on the course—except maybe the moment just after the race when she removes her helmet, and the other riders realize they just got smoked by a twelve-year-old girl.

While fear of bullying leads Eva to keep her passion a secret at school, she’s known in the local racing circuit as “Eva Knievel,” a brazen competitor willing to risk it all to win. But when her daredevil behavior leaves her with a bruised ego and a busted bike, Eva is forced to reckon with the high costs of her beloved sport—financial, physical, and emotional. 

As if that reality check weren’t harsh enough, there’s a new girl at school whose arrival not only threatens Eva’s carefully crafted school persona, but her place on the podium, too.

Conference Opportunity

A few slots are still available for the Better Books Workshop. Focused on MG/YA fiction this workshop is lmited to fewer than 26 seasoned writers and is designed to provide deep immersion in craft. The schedule includes faculty master class sessions, group discussions, and a 30-40 minute faculty-led critique of a work in progress.  Our 14th annual workshop will be held in Menlo Park, California this October and we will be joined by the following faculty: award winning author (Newberry and National Book Awards) Gary Schmidt;, Irene Vazquez, Editor at Levine Querido; Sheyla Knigge, agent with High Line Literary Collective and Hannah Teachout, agent at Folio Literary Management.  Go to https://betterbooksmarin.com/how-to-apply/ for details!

Now here’s Rebecca! 

Why Verse? by Rebecca Caprara

As an author who writes in both poetry and prose, I’m often asked how I decide which format to employ for a particular story. Each narrative style presents opportunities and challenges. Both can produce emotionally resonant, exciting, and inspiring stories with all the elements of a good novel, such as plot, character arcs, conflict, tension, setting, theme, etc. Prose typically offers a more straightforward structure with higher wordcounts, whereas verse tends to have fewer words and freer, more expressive page layouts. Verse novels may also utilize a wide variety of poetic typologies (i.e. free verse, sonnet, villanelle, ghazal, haiku, concrete poems, and more). 

When crafting a novel, the choice to write in either poetry or prose should be intentional and intrinsic.

It’s important to remember that a novel-in-verse is not just a prose novel chopped up into stanzas with funky line breaks. Format choices can enhance the narrative in a multitude of ways, by echoing or contrasting themes, expressing character emotions, driving the plot forward, and/or emphasizing pace. With verse novels, the creative use of white space also adds a rich layer of visual storytelling to the book, much like art does in a graphic novel. This also makes them especially appealing for emerging readers. 

Sometimes the prose vs. poetry decision is clear from the outset. Other times, it’s a process of discovery with lots of trial and error. For me, the subject matter of a book and the desired reading experience are key factors. If I’m on the fence in the early drafting stage of a project, I will experiment by writing a scene twice: once in poetry and once in prose. I then share these excerpts with my trusted critique partners, to see which resonates the most. I also read both versions aloud, to see if one style has a better feeling in the mouth, and to the ear. 

For my MISSION MULTIVERSE series for middle grade readers, both my publisher and I felt strongly that prose was necessary to tackle large-scale science fiction world-building. Prose also helped as I toggled between multiple character points of view and complex subplots. Quite simply, I needed more words and standard sentence structures for those books to work.

 With SPIN, my debut young adult novel, I knew immediately that it should be told in verse. Since the story is a feminist retelling of the myth of Arachne, I wanted the writing style to give a nod to the epic poetry of the past, paying homage to Ovid, Homer, and Sappho, with a contemporary twist and an approachable but classic-sounding voice that would appeal to teen readers. While I didn’t bind myself to a rigid poetic meter, I did aim to create a rhythm that felt melodic and aligned with rich oral storytelling traditions. For stories with a lyrical or rhythmic element, verse is a great fit. 

Which brings me to EVA TO THE MAX, my newest novel in verse for middle grade readers.  Eva’s story began as a single poem inspired by a photograph of a dirt biker perched on the edge of a steep ramp. The breathlessness, momentum, and hint of danger in that first poem compelled me to continue writing. I started brainstorming ways to expand that leap-of-faith moment into a novel-length narrative starring a brave and brazen 12-year-old protagonist. 

Poetry and dirt biking seemed like an odd juxtaposition at first, but the verse allowed me to express the rhythm and energy of the sport in a really dynamic and exciting way. Adrenaline-fueled races and quieter emotional scenes came to life through a dual language of words and visuals. While writing, I loved how playful the free verse and concrete poetry allowed me to be. I could “paint” with ink—words and punctuation could dart, jump, or zig-zag across the page, pulling readers deeper into the story. Because motocross is very sensory-rich (engines rev and growl and pop!), I also used rhyme and onomatopoeia to bring the sport alive. At one point, I did try rewriting the first twenty pages in prose, just to see what might emerge. It was a worthwhile exercise, but ultimately the prose read too heavy and the pages looked dense and slow. So, back to verse I went. And I’m so glad I did, because I love the way Eva’s story turned out. I hope readers will too!

Rebecca Caprara practiced architecture before shifting her focus from bricks to books. She is the author of several acclaimed novels for children and young adults, and loves experimenting with narrative forms and new genres. In addition to EVA TO THE MAX, her verse novels include WORST-CASE COLLIN, which was named a Notable Verse Novel by the NCTE Excellence in Children’s Poetry Award Committee, and SPIN, selected as a Best Book of the Year by School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews. An avid traveler, she has lived in Italy, Singapore, and Canada. She is now growing roots with her family in Massachusetts. She is represented by Allison Hellegers at Stimola Literary Studio. Learn more at: www.rebeccacaprara.com @RebeccaCaprara 

Giveaway Details

Rebecca’s publisher is generously offering a hardback of Eva To The Maxx for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by June 20th. If I do not have your email (I can no longer get it from your Google Profile), you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites and/or follow me on Twitter or Bluesky or follow Rebecca on her social media sites, mention this in the comments, and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This book giveaway is US.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is hosted by Greg Pattridge. You can find the participating blogs on his blog. 

Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops 

Monday, June 15th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Madelyn Knecht and a query critique giveaway 

Tuesday, June 16th, I’m participating in the Dad-o-Mite Giveaway Hop 

Monday, June 22nd, I'm hosting a giveaway of Laekan Zea Kemp's MG The Chimosas Only Book Club 

Monday, July 1st, I’m participating in the Sparkle Time Giveaway Hop 

Wednesday, July 3rd, I have an interview with Amanda Connolly and a giveaway of her YA romantasy The Lure of Wolves and Whispers and my IWSG post 

Monday, July 9th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Justina Ireland Handspun and query critique giveaway 

Monday, July 13th, I have an interview with Amy Tern and a giveaway of her MG Sneeks 

Thursday, July 16th, I’m participating in the Sip Sip Hooray Giveaway Hop 

I hope to see you on Tuesday!