For 30 years, when I was a newspaper editor long ago, I mentored young reporters. Sometimes it was as simple as asking the right question.

I recall one reporter rushing into the newsroom to tell me that he had just had the experience of a lifetime interviewing this CEO who had taken his company to great heights through his belief in himself and in taking risks. The reporter gushed about the CEO’s successes and described his office in detail down to a large, framed photo on the wall of this man at the helm of a speedboat jumping the waves, with an inset of his national first place award.

“He’s something else! He’s been featured in international boat racing magazines!” the reporter said.

The reporter — let’s call him Robert — turned in his story full of description of this business man’s education, his corporate awards, his plans for the future of his company. Nowhere did he mention the large photo of this CEO winning a speedboat race, beating national competitors.

I asked casually, “I notice you don’t mention his boat racing? Why is that?”

“Well, it wasn’t business-related,” Robert said. “I stuck to the most relevant facts.”

“Did you really?” I said gently. “Isn’t his speedboat racing a reflection of the personality that makes him a superstar CEO? Go back and rewrite your story. Put in that conversation you had with him about his boat racing.”

Robert did, and our executive editor congratulated him on the depth of his reporting, “especially that he races boats!”

Every person has some facet that affects their interaction with the world around them and the people in it.

Every book character should have that depth. When you build your characters, who are they really? Answer that question.