Many writers worry about how their family and friends will react to their work. Will they find themselves in your story? Will they find the portrayal unflattering? Will they imagine you have perpetrated the crimes of your worst villains or suffered the humiliations of your most pathetic characters? Or simply assume that you are a nose picker because you've described one so vividly? These problems are minor compared to the ones I would like to remind you of.

First, stop and think about the most awful thing that you've ever done, or the most shameful experience you've endured. Something you couldn't talk about with anyone, ever. It should be something utterly unpublishable, something that makes you sweat just to think about it.

Now, write for 30 minutes, or as long as you can stand it, about this topic.

Feel free to delete it or burn it as soon as you're finished.

Here's the useful part: Plant this secret — or something inspired by the secret — at the core of a character. Just as you will never talk about your secret, your character's secret never needs to be revealed, but you can still use it as a kind of emotional thermonuclear reactor, a black hole around which their galaxy whirls. This invisible gnawing secret can be used a driving force, an engine of narrative, and could just possibly lie at the root of all your character's irrational behavior, all without ever being mentioned.