Creating strong and believable characters : the externals -- Beauty and/or the beast -- What's in a name? -- Zip code, please -- What did you say you do? -- Say what? -- The artful deception -- When less is more -- Don't I know you? -- Creating strong and believable -- Characters : the internals -- She's got an attitude -- Lost in thought -- The Pygmalion trap -- Airy dreams and solid news -- The bad guys -- Do I want to know you? -- The intelligence dossier -- Character and plot -- The yellow brick road -- Fight! Fight! fight! -- Whose story is it, anyway? -- Also featuring -- The characters, they are a-changing -- Seeing is believing -- "... but it really happened!" -- Archetypal attractions -- I see a pattern emerging -- The characters and the writer.