Two Tips on Character Development for Your Novel

Secret in the Mist, the second book
in the Abi Wunder Mystery trilogy,
is now available on Amazon. You
can find it by clicking on the link below.

By Linda Wilson  

To create realistic and engaging characters, you need to know who your characters are. The best way to do this is by creating Character Bios and Character Arcs. 

Tip #1: Create a Character Bio

Create a character profile by including the following information:

• The Basics: Name, nickname, age, maturity level, appearance
• Personality & Quirks: Introvert or extrovert; how do they think, feel, and react; add complexity by giving your character(s) a few contradictions
• Backstory: Past key events relative to your story
• Goals, Fears & Flaws: What does your character want more than anything, and what’s standing in the way? What does your character need? What are strengths and weaknesses?
• Relationships & Role in the Plot: How does your character connect with the other characters; which characters do they love, hate, envy, or secretly admire?
• A Word about Story Threads: For any recurring factors integral to the story, such as the use of flashlights, the appearance of pets, a meaningful note, as an example, you need to be consistent and not have anything mentioned forgotten partway. These threads can be followed throughout your story with the “Find” function in Word. Of with the use of different color highlights.

Sources:

Excerpts from the article, “The Anatomy of a Great Character Bio: What to Include (and What to Skip Unless You’re Tolkien” include a helpful template to make your character(s) complete, from https://spines.com/character-bio-template/

For more information on creating character bios:

Character Development in Fiction: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Character Development: 12 Steps to Write Great Characters

https://jerryjenkins.com/character-development/  

Tip #2: Create a Character Arc

To create realistic and engaging characters, your main character needs to have a character arc. Your character embarks on a journey, which begins with who they are and ends with who they have become. This transformation is accomplished by showing your character’s actions, what they say in dialogue with other characters, and what their inner thoughts are. In my novels, I create an arc for each character so that they, too, can grow. 

• Internal changes: Focus on changes to your character’s beliefs, personality, and/or worldview.
• Draw these changes out with conflict: The plot, stakes, and obstacles force the character to change to overcome them.
• Character arcs: For children’s stories, a positive character arc works by creating a character who overcomes flaws, grows, and becomes a better person. 

For more information on character arcs:

Beginner's Guide to Character Arc Development: Learn the Essentials

How to Write a Character Arc — Mastering the Four Types

What is a Character Arc? 3 Common Types and Examples from Fiction, on Reedsyblog

For my current work in progress, the working title, The Worst/Best Forever Friend, a chapter book, I thought I had created an adequate Character Bio and Arc for my main character, Bo. However, at a recent critique meeting, from what the critiquers said, I hadn't shown who Bo is enough in the first two chapters, and I needed to consolidate so that the chapters would be more active. This book is my third novel. It just goes to show that there is always more to learn and more to pay attention to. I highly recommend sharing your work with a critique group or beta readers to make sure you're going in the right direction early on.

My two writing partners
and me, Alamo Canyon,
Alamogordo, NM.

Linda's latest release is Secret in the Mist, the second book in the Abi Wunder trilogy, illustrated by Danika Corrall, published December, 2025. Two other new releases are Botas Altas, the Spanish version of Tall Boots, translated by Graciela Moreno and Adriana Botero, and Cuna en la Naturaleza, the Spanish version of Cradle in the Wild, translated by Adriana Botero. Both books have won awards. Visit Linda at https://bit.ly/3AOM98L and  amzn.to/3Pj6Puu.

Why Distribution Is Critical

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

For many years I have been writing and studying publishing. There is a critical matter that almost no one talks about the importance: distribution. For over 40 years, I’ve been writing for publication, both magazines and books. During these years, I’ve written for over 50 different print magazines, and I’ve also spent years as a magazine editor. 

My first book, a short children’s book, was published in 1992 and since then I’ve written more than 60 books with traditional publishers such as Zondervan Publishing House, Thomas Nelson Publishers, St. Martin’s Press, Alpha Books, and Tyndale House Publishers. 

No one goes into a bookstore with the intention of finding a particular publisher, yet these name-brand publishers have a high standard that ensures the quality of their books. Traditional publishers know how to distribute their books through the best possible sales channels. 

In addition to working with many different publishers as an author, for over five years, I worked on the inside of two publishers as a book acquisitions editor. I fielded submissions from individuals and literary agents and then championed the books internally at the publishing house, secured the publishing teams agreement about the value of a book, and negotiated the book contract. Because I’ve worked in almost every aspect of publishing, I have a unique perspective to write about the realities of the publishing business. Now for the last 13 years I’ve been acquiring books for a New York publisher, Morgan James Publishing, one of the top independent publishers and in business over 20 years. 

Whether I am participating in an online group or at a conference I meet writers who have grown impatient with the publishing world and have decided to self-publish their work.

If you have a book of poetry or short stories you would like to distribute to your family or friends, self-publishing is a good route. However, most writers don’t think about the critical element of distribution when they publish their book. When these writers self-publish their book, they take on the complete distribution, sales, and marketing for their product. It never crosses the uninitiated’s minds how to sell the book. They assume that their books will be sold through the local bookstore, which is difficult to achieve. Self-publishing is a viable alternative, however, to authors who speak and can sell their books in the back of the room. You will need these types of outlets to sell books if you choose to self-publish. 

Several years ago, a pastor decided to self-publish a book of his sermons. Excited to have a printed book, he announced to an online group that he planned to spend considerable amount of time the next few months contacting nearby bookstores and taking orders for his book. 

What this pastor did not understand is the typical bookstore carries about 10,000 to 15,000 titles. It is not surprising that you don’t find your particular book in the store. This writer was operating under the false assumption that bookstores would carry his self-published book. In fact, bookstores resist any self-published book and rarely stock them in their bookstore. The reason is that these books can’t easily be ordered through the same system as traditional books and, in general, they don’t sell. Because these books fall out of the normal procedures, they are often not returnable to the publisher. 

Unless you work inside publishing, you may have never heard that books can be returned to the publisher for the full price. Essentially they are sold to the bookstores on consignment and the stores have complex programs to monitor the sales of their titles. If the books don’t sell within a typical time period of 60 to 90 days, they are returned to the publisher for a full refund. This practice presents a huge problem for traditional publishers who consider it a good sale when a book has a 40 percent return or less. The self-published book falls outside of the normal channels for the retailer and with thousands of titles, he can’t make a special effort for a single book.

Many self-published authors are only selling their book on Amazon and their own website. At Morgan James Publishing where I work, Amazon is a large customer but only 24% of our overall business. If you’ve published with Amazon you are missing 76% of where MJP will distribute your book. We sell in the brick and mortar bookstores and on over 180 online platforms including Target. From my perspective, this critical detail is an important one to take into consideration as you look at your publishing options. 

With self-publishing you have the total responsibility, and I’ve met authors who have spent thousands of dollars in the creation process of their book which has limited distribution. Before you publish, I encourage you to explore the various possibilities—including Morgan James. If I can help you, don’t hesitate to reach out. The exploration process costs nothing but time and may help you with some great potential heartache about distribution when you are down the road on the publishing journey.

Tweetable:

There is an often forgotten and critical element (distribution) when an author selects a path to publish their book. This prolific author and editor encourages awareness and wisdom  with your choice. (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. Get Terry’s newsletter and a 87-page FREE ebook packed with writing insights. Just follow this link to subscribe. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including  Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

4 Tips to Writing a Marketable Kid's Book

 

Contributed by Karen Cioffi, Children's Writer

 Writing is a business, at least if your intent is to sell your writing.

With that in mind, it’s not that the marketing end of your writing should put a damper on your muse, but there are a few key marketing components that you need to keep in mind when writing.

1. Your audience.

It’s been said over and over that you need to have a target market – a target audience for your book.

If you think about it, you’ll realize that’s true.

Imagine you wrote a story about your Alaskan adventure.

Who do you think would be interested in it? Who do you think would buy your book?

Now imagine you wrote a children’s middle-grade fantasy. 

Same questions.

But the answers will be different.

In an article at Live, Write, Thrive, the author takes this a step further. She advises to analyze your ‘perfect’ reader. Find out what he likes. Does he have any pets? Does she like sports, music, or art? What’s her family life like? What about school? What about friends? The deeper you go, the better.

With the answers to these questions, you can craft a story tailored toward that reader. Or you can include tidbits that a particular reader can relate to in a story you are already writing.

Maybe your reader is a junior lifeguard and cross-country runner. And, he has an eighty-pound, bronco-jumping Bernedoodle.

With this knowledge, you can craft a story that incorporates elements relative to the readers’ age group without detracting from the story’s creative process.

2. Have a worthwhile theme.

First, what is theme?

One explanation of theme is from MasterClass: “In simpler stories, the theme may be a moral or message: ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’ In more complex stories, the central theme is typically a more open-ended exploration of some fundamental aspect of society or humanity.”

The theme should be subtly woven into your story.

But there are occasions when you don’t know what the theme of your story is until it’s complete. 

Six of the most common themes are:

-Good vs. evil
-Love
-Redemption
-Courage 
-Coming of age
-Revenge

As a children’s ghostwriter, the themes I see most often from clients are:

-Be who you are
-Acceptance
-Being a good friend and making friends
-Kindness
-Bullying
-Environment

For a children’s writer or someone who wants to be the author of their own children’s book, the themes tend to be geared toward bringing awareness to children. The themes are usually about teaching children, guiding them, subtly. 

3. Be different.

It’s challenging to come up with a unique story. Everything that can go on in life has been written about. 

So, how do you keep your story fresh?

A good way to do this is to study recently published books in your genre. Make the bulk of them traditionally published, as they would have had to get past the gatekeepers.

There are two reasons for researching traditionally published books:

A. As mentioned, the storyline and writing will be good…good enough to make it past the gatekeepers.

B. Publishing houses know what’s being received well and what’s not. They’re doing a lot of research that you can take advantage of.

After you research your contenders, buckle down and write a story that’s better, one that has a different spin. This may take a great deal of effort, but it will help make your story stand out; it will make your story unique.

Want to stay away from popular stuff? Think about historical fiction. 

If you go this route, just keep in mind you need an audience that will be interested in it.

You might even get ideas from folktales. Not the ‘overly done’ ones, but older, ancient tales. 

Whatever you write, make it your own.

4. Write a good story.

You can take all the steps necessary to create a marketable children’s book, but if the story isn’t properly written, if you don’t have a good story, those steps will be for naught.

A quick breakdown of the elements needed to write a good story:

-Theme (we discussed this already)
-Plot
-Story structure
-Characters
-Setting
-Style and tone
 
To learn what’s involved in each of these elements, you can check out:
6 Tips on What Makes a Good Story?

If you have any other tips on writing a marketable children’s book, please put them in the comments.

Referenced article: https://www.livewritethrive.com/2014/06/09/3-ways-to-plan-a-marketable-novel/ 
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author, working ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach (picture and chapter books). If you need help with your story, visit Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi. 

You can check out Karen’s books HERE.

You can connect with Karen at:
LinkedIn: karencioffiventrice 
Facebook: kcioffiventrice 
Instagram: karencioffikidlitghostwriter 
Twitter: KarenCV

 

Writing and the Domino Reaction

 

Contributed by Karen Cioffi, Children's Writer

 So many things inspire me; the most recent is a video I saw on LinkedIn.

It’s about chain reactions, and I immediately thought of writing.

I found the original video on YouTube and have it here. It’s only 2 ½ minutes and super-inspiring.

 

 

The demonstrator (Stephen Morris) mentioned this video uses 13 dominoes; if he had 29 dominoes, the last one would be as tall as the Empire State Building! 

WOW! It’s minding-boggling to think about the actual size of the initial domino that caused such a powerful chain reaction. 

So how does this relate to writing? 

As writers, what we write matters. Words matter. 

You trigger the initial event by writing your story. Once it’s released into the world, it creates energy, and each time a reader reads it, more and more energy is released. The domino chain reaction is underway. 

This is the superpower writers have. 

 As a children’s writer, you never know how your story will spark something in a child. 

 It could spark an interest in the environment, history, astronomy, kindness, or even peace. It’s that initial event or trigger that can lead the reader on to greater things. Or, it may be a nonfiction book on creating a better life, or a better world. 

 Again, your words can become the trigger that sparks better things. That’s the power of a story. The possibilities are limitless, so use your superpower wisely! 

Want to be that spark in a child’s imagination or life? 

Become the author of your own children’s book. Be the trigger in a writing-reading domino chain reaction. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

 

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author, working ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach. If you need help with your story, visit Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi. 

You can check out Karen’s books HERE.
 
You can connect with Karen at HERE.