Creating a book is more than writing words—it’s building a world that readers can step into. In The Wythic Wood Mysteries Series, that means creating characters who feel real and relatable, including how they communicate according to their culture, magical creatures that spark the imagination, settings that readers can picture in their minds, and more.
7@7 Issue #7 May 2026
Catharina Steel explores the magical journey of creating characters and the worlds they live in. Download her free kids’ Character, Creature, and World Creation Worksheet to inspire their own stories.
Image: Catharina Steel with her greyhound, Macherie. The front cover of her debut middle grade fantasy with a touch of mystery, Vanishings, The Wythic Wood Mysteries series, Book One. Written text: 7@7 with Catharina Steel—Bringing Wythic Wood to Life.
Characters, Creatures, and Creativity
Creating a book is more than writing words—it’s building a world that readers can step into. In The Wythic Wood Mysteries Series, that means creating characters who feel real and relatable, including how they communicate according to their culture, magical creatures that spark the imagination, settings that readers can picture in their minds, and more.
For Vanishings, The Wythic Wood Mysteries Series, Book One, I built characters, creatures, and settings by asking how experiences, relationships, and their environment shaped who they are and how they respond to the world around them. This is the approach behind the free worksheet link at the end of this article.
As I write this month’s 7@7 with Catharina Steel, I am surrounded by boxes and packed items. The weather has turned over the last week or so, and the winter chill is creeping into the Australian climate. However, it’s amazing to me how much colder my place feels with everything packed up.
Moving is a stressful event. While I have moved over thirty times in my life, after which point I stopped counting, it’s never an easy endeavor. I’ve got the packing down to a fine art, but the older I get, the harder it is on my body—especially with all my physical limitations these days.
As tiring and stressful as it is, it is also exciting. What will my new home feel like? Who will be my new neighbors? I’m moving back to the city—Melbourne this time. I’m excited to be able to attend art shows, writers’ events, property events, and to delve into the Melbourne creative scene in general. I’m also looking forward to better shops.
This an example of how life influences characters. Their circumstances, their environment, and what they’re experiencing all shape how they show up in the world of the story.
Thinking about how this next chapter in my life will look, and how the move impacts me—each time a little different from the last—reminds me how important it is to consider the events and environment the characters in our stories are living in.
What makes characters feel real?
When I create a character, I ask myself questions like:
- What are their personality traits?
- What are their strengths and weaknesses?
- How do they react in tricky situations?
- How do they interact with magical creatures and the world around them?
- What is their cultural background, and how does this shape their communication style, sense of community, and so forth?
- What their life has been like:
- What events have they been through taht have shaped their worldview?
- What have they come to believe about themselves—right, wrong, something in-between?
- What are their circumstances that dictate their needs and actions?
These types of questions help me write characters that feel like real people living in a magical world where Clayton Forest and the Wythic Wood offer two distinct forest environments.
Creating magical creatures
Some of the creatures in Vanishings are inspired by folklore, while others are completely new. I view the creatures as to the world I have created much the same as I do for the human characters. There are life events, environmental factors, and mythical cultures that will influence each magical being and how this will influence their magic, depending on the type of magical talent each has. I consider things like:
- What powers or abilities does this creature have?
- How does it interact with humans or other magical beings?
- What habitats or environments does it prefer?
This is where imagination meets logic—They need to feel magical to the reader in a way that is consistent within the Clayton Forest and Wythic Wood world.
Bringing scenes to life with world-building
A magical world includes the characters set within it, but the world itself contributes to the feel. Each location, each scene, tells part of the story.
The light and safe environment of Opa’s place, called Clayton Forest is where Tilly, Jess, and Zach discover magic and begin their training, including learning Gobight martial arts. This world of flowers, fairies, gnomes, and a good goblin and creature-witch each contribute to the world and teach the children something about their magic and the magical world.
The tunnels, burnt lands, smokestacks, and more of the Wythic Wood location are where the evil, goblins, and elves live. In this place, the cursed weredogs (stuck in their weredog form because of the witch’s curse), bears, ravens, and snakes are controlled by the evil creature-witch. They hunt the children, the witch playing with them for her own amusement, as they search for their lost cousin and close friend of Tilly.
I create maps of these areas and draw/paint certain scenes to help me visualize the world and remain consistent. It helps me write the world vividly, dropping enough details so the reader’s imagination is sparked and they can see it, maybe almost feel like they could touch it, as they adventure alongside my characters.
Why this matters for young readers
I loved reading magical stories as a young reader. I prefer to read slowly so I can picture the world, savoring each scene and feeling the way the emotions of the characters play off each other and the world around them.
With life experience, I now look back on those moments and see how this shaped my world views in ways that stopped me from forming dark perspectives despite what I experienced in the real world. These stories showed me that not everyone was like those bullies, and it gave me a window into different ways of living, seeing, experiencing, understanding, and so much more. Stories for this age bracket, eight to twelve, do much more than many other books because of the life lessons typically embedded in them. I found that these naturally came into the story as I wrote, developed, and edited the story. Reading helps children across many areas and plays an important role in their development. They learn:I don’t believe people realize that this is what they are doing, but it does not change the impact that this is effectively what they are doing.
- To think critically
- Practice using the imagination to problem-solve
- They understand the link between creativity and planning
- Social and communication skills
And so much more. As readers, we get to experience so many worlds and the lives of the characters in the stories that our world expands in a way that is perhaps harder to achieve in any other way.
Free Character, Creatures, and World Creation Worksheet for Kids Aged 8 to 12
If you work with middle-grade readers, my Character, Creature, and World Creation worksheet is a simple way to turn story-building into a discussion about character motivation, empathy, and world-building. It guides kids through building a character, creature, and world using the framework a published author uses. It’s about asking questions to get to know their characters so they feel real and believable.
Kids answer questions about their character’s background, relationships, fears, and what shapes how they respond to situations. This is reinforced by applying this thinking to a creature created by mashing two animals or creatures together. Finally, they draw a map of the world these characters inhabit.
This worksheet is designed to help kids discover that characters (and people) are more than a name and face—we’re each shaped by our circumstances, relationships, and life experiences.
It’s hands-on, it teaches critical thinking, and it sparks imagination without telling kids what to imagine.
Next month
I have a several topic ideas to select from, but I will see what seems relevant at the time I come to writing it.
To read my previous post about the Publishing Industry’s Gatekeeping and AI Environmental Impact, click here.
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