Guest Post: Todd McClimans - Oh, Those Characters!

Literature for adolescent readers lives and dies on the strength and development of its characters. As authors of middle grade and young adult novels, we must create deep, rich characters young readers want to follow down the river Styx, through nightmarish simulations, and onto the cancer ward. Young readers cling to the characters in the stories they love, growing right along with them as if they were close friends or even extensions of themselves. The best-developed characters are ones th...