"My three-year-old wore that same outfit today."
28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones
Right now, none of my characters have chronic mental problems. I've been thinking about giving Ryan Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after his fiance is killed by an arsonist, but I'd have to do some more research.
I wanted the school in High Eyes to be haunted, and then I decided that the ghost would be a kid in a wheelchair who died when the elevator broke. Because I've never seen a ghost in a wheelchair before, and I thought it would be interesting. I don't know if a whole episode about hunting for a ghost in a squeaky wheelchair is too ridiculous to work in a high school sitcom, but I'll give it my best shot.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
ONLY ALL OF THE TIME. Of all the thoughts I think nowadays, half of them are about my stories and characters. There's always something to inspire me, and remind me of my characters. I'm very particular about what they wear and look like, and lately I've taken to flipping through magazines or photo blogs or even just looking at people in the cafeteria lunch line and thinking "Mmmm, yes, I think this character would wear that." (I wrote about this for yesterday's Writing Wednesday, complete with picspam.)
I just got back from Mr. WHS, the "man pageant" my high school puts on every year. My brother signed up to be a contestant, which was interesting. It's these popular Student Council guys and the president of the Nerd Club. He did some stand-up comedy for the talent portion, which I thought was hilarious. A few of the jokes were lost on the audience, though, and he did mumble through most of it and didn't have the act memorized. But when he lost his train of thought, I thought he covered nicely by saying "Buffering... buffering" while he stalled. His outfit for the formal portion was outstanding - black slacks and jacket, gray shirt, black vest, black buttoned cross tie, top hat, and jeweled cane. I don't know why he didn't win. He did get Best Interview, which was surprising but very cool. I'm glad he went out for this.
As for the other contestants, two guys teamed up for the talent portion. They didn't actually perform anything, just showed a slideshow of photoshopped pictures of them lifting things like firetrucks and jet planes over their heads. Entertaining, but is it really a pageant talent? Most people sing or play guitar for these. One guy sang the 3 Doors Down song "Kryptonite" for his talent portion, and he coordinated by wearing a Superman t-shirt. One of the teacher judges was bald, and he started his comment by saying, "Well, as CEO of Luthor Corp..."
Right now, none of my characters have chronic mental problems. I've been thinking about giving Ryan Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after his fiance is killed by an arsonist, but I'd have to do some more research.
I wanted the school in High Eyes to be haunted, and then I decided that the ghost would be a kid in a wheelchair who died when the elevator broke. Because I've never seen a ghost in a wheelchair before, and I thought it would be interesting. I don't know if a whole episode about hunting for a ghost in a squeaky wheelchair is too ridiculous to work in a high school sitcom, but I'll give it my best shot.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
ONLY ALL OF THE TIME. Of all the thoughts I think nowadays, half of them are about my stories and characters. There's always something to inspire me, and remind me of my characters. I'm very particular about what they wear and look like, and lately I've taken to flipping through magazines or photo blogs or even just looking at people in the cafeteria lunch line and thinking "Mmmm, yes, I think this character would wear that." (I wrote about this for yesterday's Writing Wednesday, complete with picspam.)
I just got back from Mr. WHS, the "man pageant" my high school puts on every year. My brother signed up to be a contestant, which was interesting. It's these popular Student Council guys and the president of the Nerd Club. He did some stand-up comedy for the talent portion, which I thought was hilarious. A few of the jokes were lost on the audience, though, and he did mumble through most of it and didn't have the act memorized. But when he lost his train of thought, I thought he covered nicely by saying "Buffering... buffering" while he stalled. His outfit for the formal portion was outstanding - black slacks and jacket, gray shirt, black vest, black buttoned cross tie, top hat, and jeweled cane. I don't know why he didn't win. He did get Best Interview, which was surprising but very cool. I'm glad he went out for this.
As for the other contestants, two guys teamed up for the talent portion. They didn't actually perform anything, just showed a slideshow of photoshopped pictures of them lifting things like firetrucks and jet planes over their heads. Entertaining, but is it really a pageant talent? Most people sing or play guitar for these. One guy sang the 3 Doors Down song "Kryptonite" for his talent portion, and he coordinated by wearing a Superman t-shirt. One of the teacher judges was bald, and he started his comment by saying, "Well, as CEO of Luthor Corp..."