BoM/TWS Message Forum

I think when it comes to who gets what out of BoM, every writer has their own pet cause, so to speak. For me personally, I just flat out prefer the more down to earth stories. I like coming up with characters, deciding what their role is and then using the masks to learn more about them, either through Will impersonating them or Will learning about them because they associate with someone he's impersonating. Some times through this, the characters can evolve and change in ways you don't really expect them to.

When I first started writing Ursula, I had a completely different view of her and somewhere that changed into... well, what she is now, for better or worse. It's why I like the volleyball story. I created the team, and I overall felt it did a good job of fleshing out at least a few of them so I accomplished what I really wanted from it.

Considering I write a lot in a magic-themed story, it's probably surprising that I'm actually not all that into speculative fiction, fantasy and the like. Most of what I read (that's not comic books and manga, more low class fare) is non-fiction history. When I read more fiction as a kid, I gravitated and connected way more to stuff like the works of Judy Blume or Beverly Cleary's Ramona books than I ever did genre stuff. I tried reading Lord of the Rings in high school and I honestly hated every second of it and wound up not finishing it.

So my tastes have always run more in a grounded, personal direction and that influences what I like to write about.