She wanders in and out of your thoughts. You can see her in intimate detail, down to the freckle on the base of her palm. You want to know her life story. You can't keep your mind off her. You're either in love . . . or preparing to write about a character. So how to bring her from your mind to the page?

Who is this person? Find out all you can by using questions to dig deep and jot down what you discover. You probably already have an image in mind, so physical details such as race and ethnicity, age, height, weight, and hair color should all be easy. Delve deeper. Does your character have any physical or mental defects? How about complexes? What about inherited attributes?

You may have thought about occupation and education, but what's she like with family and friends? How about her place in the community? Does she do volunteer work? Is she affiliated with a religion or political party?

How does she go through life? Optimist or pessimist? Frustrated or determined? Is she in a static place or evolving? If she's the protagonist, she'll need to grow or change (but even minor characters don't have to remain static). What's the arc of her particular story? A famous playwriting adage is: "In Act One, get the protagonist up a tree. In Act Two, throw rocks at him. In Act Three, get him down." Plot out your character's story arc on index cards, a flow chart, whatever works for you.

These exercises will help you think your way into your character. However, successful storytelling means that you don't tell readers all you know. You show them who she is so they make discoveries on their own. Readers come to know characters by interpreting what they do and say. Here's an exercise that lets you show rather than tell something about a character. Describe your character's favorite space. What does she do in that space?

How does your character act when she's under stress? Is she tired, afraid, or angry? How does she move? What does she eat? (Does she binge on pomegranate seeds or ignore food altogether?) What does she do to get what she wants? Is she direct or manipulative? Does she use distraction or humor?

As you write, you'll discover new things about your character. She may act in ways that you never would have expected. And once you've written, evaluate. Is she acting consistently or in response to the demands of the plot?

Bringing a character to life is an ongoing process of learning all you can, discovering more on the way, and reassessing as you go . . . maybe it is like being in love after all.

This post originally appeared in Laurinda Wallace's SimplyLife blog.

Although pleading ignorance of the law generally won't save you in court, most of us commit crimes against capitalization because of lack of knowledge or confusion about the rules. A colleague wants to use the phrase "Carnal Lust" in his novel. Clients wonder about "West" or "west." Would a dog be a "Rhodesian ridgeback" or "Rhodesian Ridgeback"? Some of the answers may surprise you.

Capitalize proper nouns, such as the names of people, places, companies, nations, religions, and nationalities. Even common nouns are capped when they are part of a name ("Mississippi River" but "a river"). Brand names are included as well ("Googled" or "Kleenex").

Capitalize derivatives, which are adjectives that depend on a proper noun for meaning. "Rhodesian" is a derivative, so "Rhodesian ridgeback" would be correct, as would "Stilton cheese" and "Christian doctrine." However, if the phrase is now in common usage, then the capital letter isn't needed, as in "venetian blind."

Days of the week and names of months are capitalized. Seasons are not, unless the season is part of a proper name, as in the "Summer Shakespeare Festival."

Names of regions and areas are also capitalized, such as the South (but only when it's referring to a region and not a map direction) and the Main Line. Capitalize the titles of works, such as books, films, short stories, and songs.

Capitalize a job title when it comes immediately before a proper name or in place of a proper name, as in these examples: "Captain Jones is the commanding officer," or "I am reporting for duty, Captain." However, when referring to generic people in that position, use lower case: "We invited captains to the seminar."

When editing, learn the rules of capitalization and be aware they may differ slightly between style guides. When in doubt, look up the word or phrase in a good dictionary. Note any exceptions to the rules on a style sheet.

Now, let's return to "Carnal Lust" and my colleague's latest novel. He knew that "carnal lust" wasn't a proper name or a title but decided to cap it anyway. That's how his protagonist saw the words inside his head, and that's how the writer wanted his readers to see them too.

Maybe someday I'll have a character go to Portland and have a life-changing encounter in this restaurant with the dramatic name.

Writers never really stop working. Even vacations are an opportunity to research a new locale. When I travel, I take a lot of notes and photos in case I want to use the location in a future work of fiction. Maybe a character will hail from that city or perhaps I'll want to set a portion of the action there.

A recent trip to Portland, Oregon gave me an opportunity for research. Here were the questions I asked myself:

• What makes this destination unique? How do I create a sense of place?
• What's quirky or whimsical?
• What do the residents look like? How do they dress? What do they sound like? Taking mass transit or people-watching from a park bench can help answer these questions.
• How do residents feel about the place? What brought them there?
• Look at place names. What's colorful? What resonates with you? Children's author Beverly Cleary chose Portland's Klickitat Street for where her characters lived because it reminded her of "the sound of knitting needles."
• How about the history? How does the past affect the present here?
• What's the weather like? I keep a log. It may seem silly, but someday knowing whether it's typically windy in mid-April may be crucial to the plot. A weather log also helps me create concrete sensory details about a place.
• What does it look like? I take many photos of architecture and the local flora and fauna rather than trusting my memory later.
• What's the food like? This is the fun part. Research requires me to indulge!

Traveling with a purpose lets you look at a location with fresh eyes. It also gives you a sense of the place beyond just checking off a guidebook's top ten sights to see.

Stumptown, City of Roses, Bridgetown.

These colorful nicknames all describe something special about Portland, Oregon. My recent trip there made me think about how to best capture the essence of a place, the little details that make it unique.

When I travel, I take notes about the destination in case I want to use it in a future work of fiction as place-setting or character background detail. (I'll write more about that next week in Rose's Red Pen.) However, people may have other reasons to write about their travels. A friend of mine creates amazing photo books of her trips for her family. Some may just want to write a fun Facebook post for friends while a persistent desire to break into travel writing itches at others.

Since nonfiction travel writing is not my niche, I consulted two of my colleagues. Vicki Meade's work has appeared in Baltimore Magazine, Lodging, and Chesapeake Travel and Leisure. She says that travel writing comes down to finding the right angle, not just visiting a place. Using Venice as an example, Vicki suggested writing about where visitors could try blowing glass rather than a travelogue of the city.

Beth Rubin, the author of several guidebooks (including 11 editions of Frommer's Washington, D.C. with Kids) and hundreds of travel features for print publications and the Internet over 30 years, agreed with Vicki. She stressed the importance of distinguishing your work from a pro forma destination piece. An article on West Virginia might focus on a local craftsman who makes mandolins, a new restaurant, an undiscovered place to kayak, or an eccentric innkeeper.

Travel writing is a difficult market, Beth says. Several glossy print magazines have folded while others fight to survive. She recommends Googling travel websites to try to break in that way. Beginners likely won't be paid for their writing until they've built up a body of clips. But you never know, she says. If you think you've hit on a great idea, craft a succinct pitch letter and send it to the travel editor. What have you got to lose?

Let's return to Portland. Writers there have found many interesting angles. They have focused on the thriving independent bookstores and followed in the literary footsteps of Beverly Cleary, whose characters Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby lived on Klickitat Street. Me, I'm tempted to write about the best places to find hard cider.