Write what you know. We’ve all heard that line so many times that it’s become a cliché, and we usually take it to mean writing about things we personally know and understand. Except…using that definition would stop me in my tracks since I write about villains who kill others, and I have no knowledge whatsoever of murdering anyone.

My personal take on the phrase is to write the emotions I know and research the rest. Then let the research settle in my mind so I can pull it out when I need it. A good example of this is when I sat down to start my first Natchez Trace Park Ranger novel. I stared at the blinking cursor on the blank page for a good two days. It was as if everything I knew about writing had suddenly deserted me.

I paced a bit, got a cup of coffee, thumbed through a couple of craft books, and then remembered, write what you know. Okay, what did I know and what did I need to know about the story? Before I can begin any story, I have to know my characters, since they drive the plot.

That’s where I started — fleshing them out. And hit a wall. My heroine is a law enforcement park ranger, something I only know about from observing from afar. I have no personal information about the job. But I do know how to interview park rangers. I stopped at the nearest headquarters and met the top Natchez Trace Park law-enforcement ranger, and we talked a good while. I learned that all NTPRs were LEOs, and that meant a significant change in the story. She gave me her email address, and we communicated back and forth until I felt I had a handle on my heroine.

My hero is in the undercover Investigative Services Branch of the National Park Service. Since there aren’t many of them, I went about my research a little differently. Again, I went the interview route (don’t be afraid to ask for interviews — people love to talk about what they do). I interviewed a couple of retired undercover cops with the Mississippi Narcotics Bureau and read the bio of another two undercover agents.

When you know nothing about a subject, find someone who does or a book they’ve written.

Then there was the setting. I had never been to Natchez, so that meant a trip. Natchez is one beautiful small city. I stayed long enough to know the routes I needed and to photograph different places where crimes would occur. I also ate at all the local restaurants, including Jughead’s and Fat Mama’s Tamales — you know those places show up in the series.

So far I’m only writing what I’ve researched. Where does what I already know come into play?

The real meat of writing what I know comes into play with my characters’ emotions. Like I said earlier, I’ve never killed anyone or even plotted to kill someone, although I have had fantasies have plotted to get my own way about something. Haven’t you?

When I was much younger, I thought I knew what was best for almost everyone, and proceeded to plan the details. It’s only in looking back that I can see how wrong I was. But I vividly remember my single-minded focus to get my way. Creating characters with that blind ambition works for your protagonists as well as your villains.

Another thing that helps is remembering how it felt as a child or teenager to get caught doing something wrong, or the emotions I went through when I covered up my wrongdoing. How I justified what I was doing and rationalized it even to myself. These are emotions we are all familiar with, and can pour into our characters. And not just antagonists—let your protagonists wrestle with blind ambition. They’re also flawed, after all.

In writing what you know, remember your own greatest desires and fears. Maybe you’re afraid of spiders—you can infuse that fear into a character. I was locked in a closet once and didn’t like being in enclosed places as a kid. Still don’t. My heroine hates being in a place she can’t easily escape from. It was easy describing how she felt because I knew it.

I still remember as a child when we had indoor plumbing installed in our house and lying in two inches of water in the new bathtub, thinking that when I grew up, I was going to fill the bathtub to the rim. My dad’s reason for only two inches? More water costs more money, something we didn’t have much of. That desire drove me for a lot of years. Give your characters that kind of drive.

Dig deep and take your experiences, your hurts, your fears, your desires, and write them into your characters. Then, you will have believable characters that readers can identify with. Even your villains. That’s where writing what you know comes into play.