Did you ever wonder how the author came up with the intricately textured, complicated character in "The Devil Wears Prada"? Imagination + writing=literary magic. But you might not be used to creating characters: you might be writing nonfiction. Although I guess there can be characters in nonfiction too. But wait. What? Huh?

Anyway, for those of you interested in getting your feet wet in fiction, WikiHow has advice on How to Create a Fictional Character from Scratch and, more evilly, How to Create a Credible Villain in Fiction.

Hint: don't take a real life person and just change their name around. Who wants to read a book about Manna Mintour?