Assassins, scientists, a castle, and a secret make the perfect background for a book, right? Of course, right—when you combine it with the expertise of Becky Rohner and Mischa Borgnaes, better known as Anne Marie Jenner. They began with a disclaimer that they would retain rights to any ideas generated in the class, but they would give ANWA credit in the foreword. The ideas began to flow—there was so much creativity in that room it was exhilarating to behold. So much talent in one place!

When the class began, everyone was amazed at the beautiful three-dimensional castle made of paper that stood on the floor. Becky began by weaving the background of the story—three groups of scientists are working on creating a moon colony. Each group wants to work independently and guard jealously their own secrets and methods. But, for the "good of the world," they have finally agreed to work together by meeting at this castle, turned into a hotel, and work out the details. However, one assistant has already been killed, and the government has fears that this "group" could create bombs on the moon and drop them on an unsuspecting earth.

The class was divided into three sub-groups—hotel staff, assassins and the scientist group—and given characterization cards. These cards defined the basics of creating a character: Name, age, nationality, physical description, job duties and their objective. Each character card had some portion (different on each card) filled in and the balance blank for the group to create. A timer was set and imaginations started to run wild. Creativity flowed as the groups filled in the rest of the cards.

When time was up, the hotel staff started, and what a motley crew they created: a sexy man who wants to take over the entire convention, a few love triangles, and you are ready for the plot to thicken and to be stirred. The assassins were a group of technology whizzes, wall climbers and ruthless killers. Unknown to anyone else, the government had hired these assassins to kill all of the scientists. The scientists emerged as a mix of old and young, with a few possible flirtation attractions. Since the group assigned to the scientists knew there were assassins out there, they fortified their characters by adding a black belt in karate and a mountain climber to help defend them.

The mix was incredible in so short a time. We were given specific helps on keeping characters straight, cautioned to write it down to make sure your characters always stay true to themselves and weren't doing things off in left field that they wouldn't normally do. For a first time attendee, it was an intense, yet simple, way to create these characters and maintain their believeability. I have now started plotting and creating my own mystery using these characterization skills. Thanks!