I'm asked a lot of questions about characterization. That is (apparently) one of my strong points, but I'm not exactly sure how to explain it.  So, I'll do my best.

It's a feeling as simple as knowing whether you want chocolate or blueberry ice-cream. Sometimes, you just know the character. For me, I get to know the characters as I write and then they do what they want to. There is some plotting that I do in the beginning. I sit down with a legal pad or Microsoft One Note and sketch out the...