Writing a Series-Worthy Character

Guest blog by Vicky Fang

​Having a main character that can drive multiple books is a key part of creating a chapter book series. But how do you create a series-worthy character? 

​​I’m sharing my process in creating the Ava Lin character and series in hopes it will provide fellow writers with strategies to make a chapter book character hold up across multiple books 

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Ava Lin (Candlewick, 2024 and 2025) is the protagonist of my latest chapter book series, and I’m constantly coming up with new ideas for her. She’s a six-and-a-half year old Chinese American girl who loves bubble tea, treasure, and animals. She’s continually getting herself into confusing social situations, and dives in headfirst with hilarious and unintended results. 

AVA LIN, BEST FRIEND! (Credit: Candlewick, ©2024 Vicky Fang)

Ava has been a great character to write over and over again. She has become like a member of our family. Whenever we find ourselves cracking up about an earnest, relatable, or hilarious misunderstanding, my kids say “that has to go in an Ava Lin book.” She is a way to look at our honest mistakes and laugh about them.

CREATING A GREAT CHARACTER
When I approach characters, or teach others to create characters, I like to start with a basic template that includes:

• What is the character (human, animal, object, etc.)
• Adjectives to describe the character
• What they want

​When I first started writing Ava Lin, I wrote down things like “curious,” “loves treasure,” “makes mistakes,” “wants a friend.”

It can be helpful to pick one aspect of your character and exaggerate it. For Ava Lin, I chose her earnestness. This earnestness results in many of her essential qualities: curiosity, optimism, resilience, frustration, etc. By choosing something that gave me a clear sense of how she would react to many different situations, I gave myself a character that would easily scale to many different stories.

AVA LIN, ONE OF A KIND (Credit: Candlewick, ©2025 Vicky Fang)

I also started sketching ideas of what Ava might look like. I usually do this whether I’m planning to illustrate or not, as it helps me solidify my mental picture of the character.

Early sketches for Ava Lin, ©2022 Vicky Fang

BUILDING YOUR STORY
The story and the character go hand in hand. So when I start thinking about the story, I might have to go back and adjust the character, or vice versa. After I have a sense of the character, the key question I’m trying to answer next is: What do they want and why can’t they have it?

Ideally, your character’s exaggerated trait contributes to the reason they can’t have what they want. You may have to go back and forth between the pieces, adjusting until you get to something really meaty. This is what makes for a great story: when your character’s own traits exacerbate the obstacles in the way of getting what they want.

For Ava Lin, her earnestness causes her to dive into social situations that she doesn’t really understand. More than anything, she wants a best friend! (This is the goal I picked for the first book.) But how do you make a best friend? How do you know when they are your best friend? Ava’s headlong efforts backfire on her, and she has to find ways to figure it out. Fortunately, the very earnestness that causes Ava’s missteps also helps her overcome the obstacles.

AVA LIN, BEST FRIEND! (Credit: Candlewick, ©2024 Vicky Fang)

After you write the first draft of your story, take a step back and think about if the themes of the story and your character and plot are all working to create the best tension and resolution possible. Does your character have a satisfying arc from the beginning to the end? Does the voice of the story align with your character and the theme?

DEVELOPING A SERIES
With Ava’s earnestness getting her into social situations she doesn’t quite understand, it was easy for me to come up with many different story lines for her. In Best Friend!, she wants a best friend and also a super cool notebook. In One of a Kind, she wants to win the most kindness tickets, but loses track of actually being kind. In Super-Duper Happy, she wants to find a connection with her grandmother while also trying to win a gold medal in the school walkathon.

AVA LIN, SUPER-DUPER HAPPY (Credit: Candlewick, ©2025 Vicky Fang)

In general, characters that are relatable and proactive will be easier to build a series around. But there are many different ways to do this! A character might be relatable because they explore one emotion that we’ve all felt—maybe it’s fear, or shyness, or recklessness, or hope. A character might be innately proactive, or they might be driven to action by external factors. Find the story that fits your character, and shape your character to fit your story. They both need to work together.

GO FORTH AND WRITE!​

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Vicky Fang is the author-illustrator of the Ava Lin chapter book series, the Friendbots (Harper Alley, 2021 and 2024) early comic series, and the forthcoming One Mad Cat (Candlewick, 2026) early graphic novel series. You can learn more at vickyfang.com.

If you’re interested in more kidlit advice from Vicky, check out the Kidlit Survival Guide, by Vicky and Christine Evans where we share weekly thoughts on kidlit craft and business.

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