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Note: The following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of "Everything You'll Ever Need to Know to Write a Bestseller" by Bill MacWithey.

While there are many aspects to writing, and we'll cover most if not all of them in this book, as I said earlier, I believe the most important part of any story is its character or characters.

So you sit down to write a best seller. You either have the idea for the story in your head or you have written an outline. Now, you must introduce your hero, heroine or whomever. Every story has at least one of each. How are yours different? Or is he/she?

How thoroughly have you created your main characters before you start writing? Do you have but a vague idea of what he or she looks like? Do you know what manner of speech your character will use? Do you know what he or she thinks of politics? Kids? Movies? Other drivers on the road? Is she prone to outbursts of anger? Is she a gentle soul?

Let's assume you are about to begin a murder mystery, with your hero being a police detective, Irene Carson. Of course, you want Irene to be different than other lady cops you've read. If she wasn't, why write about her? If your character is going to be the same old lady cop, with the same old problems, why bother to create a new character? Just take her from one of your favorite author's stories, change her name and change the story a bit. No, this might not be plagiarism. Awfully close, though.

But if you are going to waste the paper, ink, time and effort you might as well do something original. Each of us has it within us to do exactly that. No, let's not copy anyone. Let's truly make Irene unique. But how do you do that? Besides the obvious, I mean. At this point, I would like to ask you, the reader, a question. How would you write someone's biography? The answer would seem so obvious as to make the question seem trite. You would have to get to know this person intimately. Right? To do a good biography, you'd have to know their nice side and their dark side. You would need so many facts that the job would be truly labor intensive. And that's why I do not do nonfiction - too much work! Interviews with relatives, research at local newspaper archives and a long, long list of laborious, sometimes boring details. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just sit at home and make everything up?

We can. We write about a fictional character. But if you are writing fiction, you must know your character better than she knows herself. By that, I mean, you must not only know her by her physical appearance, but you must get inside her head and analyze her every motive for everything. You must develop a psychological profile of Irene of which even she is unaware. We all have hidden things from ourselves, which others cannot learn, because we don't know them ourselves. That's a big advantage of writing fiction. Our character can keep nothing hidden from us. You've heard of author omnipotence? This is where it comes into play in a positive way. As the author and creator of Irene, she has no choice but to give up her innermost feelings and the secrets she knows and doesn't know about herself. You must extract and know every tiny bit of information you can dredge up on Irene.

Start with the basics. Age, height, weight, place of residence (house, apartment) car, furniture Etc. Then get into more detail:

Perhaps Irene is unique in that she had cancer and survived it. Maybe this was before she became a police officer.

What color is her hair? Is it dyed or real? Is it well coifed or messy? Is she using color rinse to hide the strands of gray that have begun to show up prematurely? Does she wear anything in her hair? A comb or such? When on duty, does she wear her hair differently?

Does she use excessive or not enough makeup? Does it seem she knows how to use makeup to enhance her appearance? Are her eyelashes real? Does she use too much blush? Does she use the wrong color eyeliner and lipstick for her complexion? Or does that nice tan look phony also? Does she have a year-round tan? Is she tanned where it shows, but lilly white beneath her clothing? For that matter, is she white at all? Is she Asian? African American? Hispanic? Perhaps Irene is the only black woman on an all white police force in a small town in Georgia? (I'm looking for uniqueness here. Don't be afraid to throw in a half dozen possibilities as you initially get to know Irene. Is she Polish and hates Polish jokes?)

Does Irene dress neatly, whether in work clothes or going out? Does she lounge around home in shorts - jeans - sweat suit - halter top - blouse - man's shirt? Does she dress manlike on the job? Does she deliberately dress and look feminine while working? Does she push the line of good taste to the point that her supervisor or partner is afraid she'll get his butt in a jam, even though he likes looking at her taunting style of dress? Does she wear fancy, chic clothes when she goes out on a date, or is she more the tomboy, who would rather go to the rodeo in jeans and boots? Are her clothes name brands - K/Mart - Macy's?

What does she carry in her purse besides the snub nosed .38 caliber Colt Chief Special revolver and her police ID? Dump her purse out on the table. What do you see? A small sewing kit for emergency repairs? Does it look like it has ever been used? A stack of credit cards with a rubber band around them, or are they contained in a Gooney & Jerk credit card case with her initials in gold on the side. Is there a small pocket sized package of pop-up tissues? How many key rings? Does she carry a Gooney & Jerk key chain to match the credit card case and the Gooney & Jerk purse you have just dumped out? Or are her keys on a cheap advertising key ring given her at the used car lot or the new car dealer? How about a half-used pack of year-old, crumbling, hard chewing gum? Two give-away cigarette lighters? Does she smoke, or is that half-pack of cigarettes a reminder that she quit? Are they a deliberate temptation to prove she can do without? Receipts from the last thirty trips to the grocer? An unpaid utility bill? A small stack of stubs from paid utility bills wrapped 'round with another rubber band? A small cross given to her for her birthday when she was eight, a gift from the nine year old boy next door who became a priest? How many combs, brushes, mirrors, compacts, lipsticks etc. There are a million possibilities in Irene's purse that could tell you a lot about your character.

What does her kitchen look like? Piled up with dirty dishes and the clothes she shed on the way to the dryer in the garage to pull out the sweat suit she washed a week ago? Or is the kitchen neat as a pin? What about the house or apartment? Is it small, large, lower priced, too expensive for a cop? (Maybe she has an inheritance or another source of income. Is the other source legal or has Irene been on the take from drug dealers?) Are her clothes hung neatly in the closet, all ironed ahead of time, or is there a huge pile of un-ironed clothes and an ironing board permanently set up in the bedroom or living room? Or is her entire house so neat one would swear it was vacant or the person living there was trying to sell it? Is there too much furniture? Not enough furniture? Maybe the payment eats up so much of her income she has to furnish her house or apartment with hand-me-downs.

What about her car? Is it neat and clean or do you see twelve dozen McDonald's wrappers in the back floor board? Does it look so scuzzy that you wouldn't accept a ride in it if you were on your way to your favorite aunt's funeral and your own car broke down? What color is it? Sedate white - bright red? Does Irene drive carefully, or does her driving reflect the condition of her back floorboard? Does she drive courteously or does she bully her way on through, cuss the other stupid drivers and flip them off?

What about the way Irene walks and moves? Does her stride exude confidence? Slow and steady? Unsure? Does she put her hands on her hips when she speaks? (body language for, "I'm just as good as you.") Does she hold her hands out in front of her with her palms down when she makes a point? (body language for, "I'm right and don't question it!) Does she hold them out palm up in a pleading, "Say I'm right" manner? Does Irene have a certain way she tilts her head when she smiles? Is her smile warm and friendly, or condescending and more like an insult?

How does Irene speak? Does she have a soft voice? A powerful, overbearing voice? Is her personality and size matched to her voice? Does she speak softly, even though she can be just as tough and mean as the situation calls for? Is there a special softness in her normally crude tone when she speaks of certain things? Her mama, the man she lost to heart attack, the baby she lost, any small child?

Does Irene like sports? Does she hate them? Is she addicted to soap operas? Does she hate them? Does she like swimming, fishing, lounge hopping? Does she read a lot? Never reads more than necessary to do her job? Does she go jogging? Does she have a lot of friends or is Irene a loner when off duty?

What about her friends? Are they mostly cops? Or are her real friends all people far removed from her job? What kind of people are they? What are their professions? Are they mostly church goers? Never go to church? Does Irene believe in God? Does she go to church? Are her friends wealthy? Poor? A mixture of both? Average?

Does Irene have a pet? Cat, dog, monkey, goldfish?

Does Irene hide a deep dark secret? Was she raped by her father as a young girl? Did the boy next door rape her before he became a priest? Is she torn between letting him continue to get by with it or should she tell? Did Irene accidentally kill a child when she was a teenage driver? Was she driving the car in which her husband died?

How does Irene feel about her fellow officers? How does she feel about men in general? Women? People in general? Does she worry about what people are doing to the environment? Does she dislike other law enforcement agencies? Respect them? Does Irene dream of becoming the top cop of her police department? Perhaps chief? Or does she just want to get her twenty or thirty years in and retire?

As you can see, Irene, the police woman who will be your main character, needs a lot of defining before you really know her. Let's do a profile of Irene and answer a bunch of the above questions. First, we must decide if Irene is going to be a completely straight, honest cop who wouldn't even take a cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts without paying for it. Or does she take advantage of her uniform to get whatever she can for free or at a discount.

Let's make her a good cop, but one who might become vulnerable during your story and fall prey to taking a bribe to pay for her sick mother's operation. Shoot, let's make this a humorous story!

Irene is exceptionally neat in her dress and manner. She has received officer of the month awards a half dozen times in the last five years. And, Irene is one of the most respected members of the Dulopolis, Georgia Police Department. In her thirteen years on the force, she has worked her way up from traffic patrol to detective sergeant. Of course, she is assigned to homicide.

She drives a two door Toyota Camry, keeps it neat as a pin, but her garage is a mess. It's filled with all the stuff her husband left behind when he died. Irene doesn't have the heart to have a garage sale and get rid of Frank's "stuff." She is a smiling, likable, but no-nonsense cop. Irene truly believes in her duty to protect people from the baddies.

She has the ugliest dog in the world - one which no one else would have around. I mean, this dog would be turned down for entering an ugly contest on the grounds of unfair competition! But she picked him up injured along the road and spent three hundred dollars at the vet's to make him well. She did it exactly for the reason that he was so ugly. She knows no one else would want him. Besides, Irene has always considered herself less than pretty and has an affinity for being attracted to those who would make her look good. Alongside Ralph, she is a beauty queen. Ralph is the ugly mutt. Irene's compassion for the down and out guides her handling of victims of crime and their relatives.

Her voice is strong, but tempered. But when speaking of Frank or other sad memories from her past, there is a special softness in her voice that entrances anyone who hears it. It's as if she undergoes a complete transformation at times.

Irene's house, other than Frank's garage is so neat it would seem she has a full time maid. She seldom has company, so the cleanliness and order are for her own peace of mind. And, speaking of peace of mind, although outwardly, she is the brave, tough cop, inside, she is scared to death. Is there something in her past she's afraid might surface and ruin her facade? Yes. Irene unwittingly caused the death of a college classmate fifteen years earlier.

Although she regularly turns down dates with fellow officers, and continues the facade of being at least mildly satisfied with her life, she is lonely - desperately lonely. Does Irene know someone unapproachable who she would like to know better? As a matter of fact, she has a real crush on a fellow officer, but he's married. She hides her feelings for him by deliberately avoiding and being aloof and unfriendly with him.

Irene is but one small example of building your character and getting to know her/him intimately before you begin writing. If you were writing about nuclear power plants, you would have to learn everything there is to know about nuclear plants and, indeed, nuclear physics. How could you possibly write about Irene without knowing her every bit as well?

As I wrote earlier, usually, I work without an outline. But I do know my main character or characters intimately before I put them in my story. I know what my story is going to be in terms of genre, setting and so on, but the only character I know for sure, is my hero or main character. I say, or main character, because your main character does not always have to be the hero of your story, contrary to common belief. But if I'm working with a hero, will he meet a sexy lady and fall in love? I don't know. Will he team up with someone else in pursuit of a solution to the earth shaking problem he faces? I don't know. Will he win in the end? Probably, but normally I don't truly know when I sit down to put that first page in my computer's fantastic brain.

One of the things I have done over the years, is build up a repertoire of characters through my practice writing of character profiles. They are listed alphabetically as documents in that fantastic computer memory and on a tablet in which I keep a record of all my documents. Do I need a naval expert who has served on an aircraft carrier in my story? I pull up that old salt, Barry Nelson, former navy commander and, now, private investigator. Do I need a woman of particular aspect to join my hero in his search for justice? Army Lieutenant, Tracy Smith, a beautiful, intelligent member of military intelligence. (Actually, she's a colonel, but it suits her military investigations to be a lieutenant.)

And the list goes on and on. I find it an enjoyable exercise to create real people on paper. I can make them as good looking as I want, as ugly as that dog, Ralph, as smart or as dumb as I want, as charitable or greedy as I want. I think you get the point. And while it is good writing practice to create all these characters you may never use, I promise - indeed, I guarantee - with practice, creating just the character you want will soon come automatically. You'll have a reserve of characters you can call on to enter your story as a major player or a minor character any time you need him/her.

Click here to go to a character worksheet.

Bill MacWithey
Stir your emotions and desire to write!
"Everything You'll Ever Need to Know
to Write a Bestseller"

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