MOUNT VERNON — Characters are found in books. Stephen Markley is a character. Therefore, it’s only natural that the former Mount Vernon resident’s publishing breakthrough would come with a book that includes him in it. That was the writer’s bright idea. But it was only the beginning of his adventure.

“I had the flash of genius, the inspiration, all at once,” Markley said via telephone from Chicago where he lives. “Then it took two years of hard work.”