Award-winning writing duo Victoria Pannell and Thorir Sigfusson draw inspiration from their rich life experiences and four grandchildren, who spark their creativity and drive their storytelling. They’re thrilled to bring young readers their series, The Crow’s Tales, with The Bird Caper, The Big Dream, and a new installment to release next year.
Victoria, with her extensive experience in teaching and public relations, brings a nuanced understanding of young readers’ minds to their collaborative works. Thorir is a retired architect who discovered his passion for writing later in life, finding joy in translating his artistic inclinations into words.
We talked with the duo about why they enjoy writing for a middle-grade audience, what makes their writing process magical, and why feedback from their readers continues to motivate them.
What inspired you to start writing, and how did you know you wanted to create content for children and families?
It’s always been about family. I wrote some unpublished short stories for my kids in the 80s and then spent the next few decades starting stories I couldn’t finish. As Thorir got closer to retiring, he began writing his childhood memories from Iceland into a story for the grandkids. While I was attempting to write a screenplay, our projects merged, and it was decided—we’d work together on a book that would be a gift for the grandchildren. Who knew we’d end up writing an indie middle-grade mystery adventure series?
Now that we’ve set a course in this direction, we want to create a safe space between the pages, spinning tales that interest young and old, spawning opportunities to read together and have fun conversations.
What's the key to writing stories that truly resonate with a middle-grade audience?
We’ve read stacks of middle-grade books since starting our writing journey, and it’s been a phenomenal learning experience. Middle-graders are a fantastic audience to write for; they love humor, mystery, and happy endings. The first few pages of the story are critical and need to have a strong hook. It’s most important to make the main character someone they can relate to, with flaws and real growth, create a plot that’s exciting with actual stakes, and write clearly and directly without talking down to them.
In crafting the story, we think it’s all about pacing. While maintaining the integrity of the creative process, we monitor the number of syllables in a word, the number of words in a sentence, and paragraph length. We vary the length of sentences and strive for shorter chapters. Our experience has shown us that heavy text on a page does not come across as reader-friendly and frequently discourages young readers from reading. We find this group also likes white space and graphics to balance out the text.
How do you find ways to connect your books to a classroom environment or make them more appealing to a teacher or librarian audience?
Making our books useful and appealing to teachers and librarians is paramount. We’ve taken great care in crafting our books’ backmatter. We surveyed teachers about useful classroom resources and customized them for the end of each book. The results are terrific! (1) Backstory (2) Literature Circle Questions (3) Thinking Skills (4) Word Guide (5) Authors’ Chat. We’ve also included a STEM element. Students and teachers find that integrating fictional narratives into science lessons improves comprehension and enjoyment by making complex ideas more relatable. In The Bird Caper our protagonist conducts a ladybug experiment and documents the life cycle, making it an ideal prose to augment a classroom science unit.
Walk us through your creative process as a writing team. How do you work in partnership to create these stories?
We’ve been told co-authorship can be a prickly pear, and we live together! Actually, our process is rather magical. But like most writing, it’s work. With our third book well underway, we can tell you we’ve done it differently each time. But the basics are always something like this. One builds the story… like building a house with a strong foundation and interesting lines and architecture. The other comes in and decorates the house, giving it additional character, charm, and drama. When we write, we each have our own voice. After blending our work, it becomes a third voice… magical. It surprises us every time.
Often, new authors are encouraged to have a critique partner to bounce ideas off and seek support from. In our situation, we’re fortunate to have live-in critique partners, which works well for us. We take turns lifting each other up, editing each other’s work, celebrating the high points, and providing each other with endless support. And when we get a great review, it makes all the effort worth it and keeps us going.
What do you love about the independent publishing process and being an indie author?
Marching to the beat of our own drum has always been our preference, so independent publishing works well for us. We love the freedom of making our own schedules and decisions. We managed to publish our middle-grade series while our grandkids were still in middle school because we’re indie authors. If we had gone the traditional route, the kids would’ve probably aged out of the books by the time they came out. We’ve done a lot of learning and created a terrific team that includes a marvelous editor in New York, an award-winning illustrator in Utah, and talented collaborators in the U.K.
IngramSpark is a valued partner on our writing journey. This partnership lets our books reach more readers, especially in libraries and schools, which we’re aiming for. We love how their printing makes our books look as good as traditionally published ones. Plus, IngramSpark gives us resources like their Metadata Best Practices Guide, with tips to boost how easily people find and buy our books.
Tell us about your series The Crow’s Tales! What do you hope your readers take away from the series?
The Crow’s Tales series follows protagonist Brandon Woodberry, his friends, and pet crow, Ralph, on their fast-paced, fun mystery adventures through the middle-grade years. Each story is standalone, exploring themes of change, honesty, and truth along with a pervading light on friendship, perseverance, and community.
When the first story was in development, we saw it as a boy’s book intended to encourage reading and to entice outdoor activities as an alternative to electronic games or spending too much time on social media. But as the story grew, we introduced new characters, and the addition of girls added a dimension to our writing that we liked. We think readers will enjoy seeing the characters grow older in the stories, where Brandon is 10 in Book One and nearly 14 in Book Three. Even though there are no cliffhangers, we suggest reading the series in order. We often say we write for the joy of reading and hope our readers, young and old, feel happy in the end.
Check out this unforgettable mystery adventure series for young readers!
These books have received countless rave reviews and awards. What feedback has been the most meaningful to receive, and how does it feel to see children enjoying and responding to your stories?
The accolades have come as a welcome surprise. It is truly an honor to be recognized by fellow authors, educators, and book enthusiasts. It gives us the sense that we are on the right track. The most meaningful feedback has been from our target audience, the middle-grade reader. Winning GOLD in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards has meant the world to us, judged by readers 8-12 years old. Comments we receive from young readers about our books are like an out-of-body experience. Knowing that your words on a page bring a child happiness is almost beyond words themselves. When you receive a review that says, “The authors just really ‘get’ kids this age,” it makes you want to do your very best.
You’re currently working on Book Three, The Crow’s Ring, to be released in early 2026. What can your readers expect from the upcoming installment?
It’s the gang’s last summer before starting high school, Brandon’s pet crow, Ralph, finds a ruby ring, and Brandon and the gang encounter a salty old sea captain with an interesting past. The kids get involved in solving The Stony Creek Case, an unresolved jewelry heist from the 1930s that’s been a mystery in their town for decades. A twisty journey ensues to discover the truth. Young readers will delight in the suspense as the characters develop theories through investigative thinking and collect evidence to support their curiosities.
The behind-the-scenes of this story is different. A book log ensured details of the three books were consistent, and a timeline kept names and dates organized. Perhaps the most challenging was the subject matter itself in writing a complicated who-done-it plot in a clear and entertaining way. We’re crossing our fingers that it’s a fun read. Launch plans are set for early 2026 in time for March Middle-Grade Madness!
What are you most excited about these days?
Taking the third book, The Crow’s Ring, to the finish line and completing the series is exciting for us. The original goal was to write just one book. Having a series is far and away from where we started. Adding to this, Thorir has a bonus story already written for the series. We’re also looking forward to taking part in several upcoming book fairs, meeting new readers and fellow authors. Our school authors’ visit program is ready to take to the classroom, and we can’t wait to talk to students about our books, the writing process, and how they can write a book too!
