Character Work

As much as I love my leads, I actually relish writing my supporting characters. Especially in a crime drama.

I mean, come on, we've all seen the blustery police lieutenant/captain. Whenever I encounter a chance to write such an iconic character like this, I think, how can I make them 'pop?'

I mean, I need a stern supervisor to bust my Hero, Kent's, chops, but how can I write them so that you don't feel like you have 'seen' it all before?

In Plain Jane I wanted the guy (I could have chosen a wo...