char array question

I have the following code which shows roughly what i am trying to do, I want to write error messages to the file using the write system call. I am having trouble assigning error messages to the buffer array as it shows errors, how do I make the code compile without errors?

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
        char buffer[512];
        int x = 1, y = 2;

        if (x == 1)
        {
                buffer = 'hello';
                printf("%s", buffer);
        }
        else
        {
                buffer = "bye";
                printf("%s", buffer);
        }

        if (y == 2)
        {
                buffer = "hello2";
                printf("%s", buffer);
        }
        else
        {
                buffer = "bye2";
                printf("%s", buffer);
        }
return 0;
}

1. You must use "double" quotes, not 'single' quotes
2. You can't assign to an array, you need something like
strcpy( buffer, "bye" );

Check out a tutorial on how to use C strings. Might I suggest CProgramming.com's?