Behind the Series: Ava Lin
Inspiration, pitch, and process behind the Ava Lin chapter book series.
We’re back with another Behind the Book post! (For previous posts, see my post about THE BOO CREW NEEDS YOU! and Christine’s post about DEAR MR. G.) This time, I’ll be talking about the process and pitch behind the Ava Lin series, including the first book, Ava Lin, Best Friend!—and a peek at the ever-challenging task of coming up with the second book in a series. (Book Two releases in January!)
Inspiration
I was inspired to write Ava Lin by the books that my boys loved to read at that age. They wanted funny books, with illustrations, filled with lots of hilarious and relatable shenanigans. I was particularly inspired by books like Dory Fantasmagory, The Cookie Chronicles, Planet Omar, and Junie B Jones. I knew I wanted to write something that drew from some of my own childhood experiences, and something relatable and funny that would encourage kids to fall in love with reading.
The character of Ava Lin started forming in my head from elements of my kids’ personalities. I wanted her to be Chinese American because it reflects parts of my own childhood and my kids’. I loved how Dory’s behavior in Dory Fantasmagory was so recognizable and relatable, and I wanted to pull from real life to bring that into Ava Lin. My kids crack me up all the time, and their shenanigans inspired so much of Ava’s character!
In particular, I focused on their optimism and their earnestness, and their hilarious but relatable ideas. Those are the elements that I gave to Ava Lin, multiplied and magnified.
Drafting Process
Once I had Ava’s character in my head, I started jotting down all the silly ideas and anecdotes that came up over time that fit her personality. I took all of these ideas to a retreat weekend with my critique partners, Christine and Faith Kazmi.
From my list of ideas that I’d been gathering as it percolated, I picked out a few that I thought I could weave together. For example, the following phrases were on my list and got pulled into that first draft: “first day of school” “dim sum pranks” “refusing food” “pockets full of stuff” “crayon in the dryer” “rock in ear” “blue diamond.” (You’ll recognize how each of these ideas made it into the final book!) I went back and forth between character sketches and writing, establishing a tone and style that I thought I could pull off. I wrote a very rough outline, maybe 30 words long, and tried to keep the character arc and pacing in mind as I wove the story elements together into a cohesive draft.
I got a full draft of the first book out during that retreat weekend! (This isn’t always the way for me… some stories come quickly, others take years.) The draft stayed pretty solid because the character and tone was so strong in my head. But because I had never illustrated in this style before, I needed to convince myself and potential editors that I could do it…
Pitch
I put together a proposal with my agent, Elizabeth Bennett, that included an overview of the series, my bio, synopses for Books 1-4, the full manuscript for Book 1, and a fully illustrated sample of the first chapter. I created the art in Procreate and put the layouts together in InDesign.
Going on Sub
Once the proposal was complete, we went on sub in August of 2022 to about 7 editors. It got passed from a few of those editors to their peers, so probably about 10 editors total saw the manuscript. And in November, we had offers from two of them! (This was fast, even for back then.) I had calls with both to talk about their vision for the book. I ended up going with Sarah Ketchersid at Candlewick because she really seemed to get the book, is wonderfully nice, and has an amazing track record. I’m glad I did, as she’s been so insightful to work with.
Editorial Process
The biggest change that came out of the editorial process was that Sarah suggested aging up the main character to first grade. (Actually, both editors that offered on the book suggested this, to appeal to older readers more easily.) We also looked at how to balance the parents so that they had distinct but present roles in the book. And then, of course, the copy editor helped clean up the text for clarity and consistency.
I also played around with the illustration style during this time to see what worked best. With input from my art director, Lisa Rudden, I ended up going with a bolder line style than I originally pitched.
People often ask how the words and illustrations weave together in a book like this. In the manuscript text, I indicated where I thought illustrations would go. Lisa put together layouts for the entire book and I sketched within those layouts, suggesting changes in areas where I needed more or less space or wanted to add text.
For the first book, I think I did rough sketches, revised sketches, cleaned up sketches, full art, and then final art. We’ve since eliminated one of those cycles, now that we know what to expect from each other.
Waiting
Waiting for this book to launch was challenging for me! I care so much about the Ava Lin series because it has so much of my heart and my growing craft wrapped up in one. I had many, many moments of panic on the way to launch. But, my amazing support system helped me through (thank you especially to Christine, Elizabeth, and Sarah!) and the book launched into the world in June. I am incredibly proud of it, and the reception has been truly wonderful, from both critics and readers. I was so happy to receive happy letters and photos from readers, to celebrate with launch parties at Linden Tree in Los Altos, CA and at Newtonville Books in Newton, MA, to get positive reviews across the board, and even to get on some Best of 2024 lists!
Working on Book Two…
Because the three books in the series are launching roughly six months apart, I was already working on Book Two while I waited for Book One to launch. It’s a unique challenge to write the SECOND book in a series. How do you capture the charm of Book 1 without being too close or too formulaic? How do you deliver a story within a scheduled deadline without the luxurious percolation of Book 1?
Instead of following the structure of Book 1, I decided to follow the process. The main story that inspired the overall premise came from a kindness ticket incident with my son. Here’s an IG video retelling of that incident:
I had more inspiration from my life that I had also pitched in the original proposal: my older son’s obsession with pets and my younger son’s made-up language. Then, I grabbed some snippets from my idea list: “dantat—realizing it’s egg, yuck! but yum” “pomegranate seeds like jewels.” Then, I wove all those elements together, letting Ava’s character drive the story: In Ava Lin, One of a Kind, Ava is trying to earn kindness tickets while also taking care of the class pet (a turtle named Melvin) and inventing her own alien language—with some bumbling mishaps and lots of heart. I am, now, at that awkward moment of waiting for Book Two to launch. I’ve also just finished art for Book Three! I’m nervous, but I’m also excited to get the next book into the hands of readers.
That’s it (for now)!
Writing a book or a series can be an emotional rollercoaster, but at the end of the day, you just have to create something that you love and hope that it finds readers that love it too. And sometimes, those individual readers make it all worthwhile.
I hope that seeing the process behind this series is helpful, and I’m happy to answer any questions!
I am excited about this series! (I’m just now reading about it, Feb 2, 2025.) I’d love to read it, but I’ve ordered it from Amazon to be sent to my first grader granddaughter, who LOVES books, but finds reading very difficult (I think it’s a kind of dyslexia that’s making it so unbelievably hard.) Many thanks for writing Ava Lin books! I hope there are more coming in the future.
Enjoyed reading the background story of how Ava Lin came to be!