20. What are your favorite
character interactions to write?
Without a doubt, my favorite interactions are between siblings. Since I have three sibs myself I know how interesting those interactions can be - and there's a wide variety. They can be fighting or arguing, they can bicker or tease, they can be sweet and supportive, or caring and kind, overprotective and/or completely neurotic. The relationship between siblings is very unique. There is no other relationship like it out there. You can have really good friends who are like sisters or brothers, but there is something about growing up together from birth, being from the same enviroment, raised by (hopefully) the same parental figure(s) that bonds you in a way nothing else can. And being blood siblings - or identical twins - adds even more levels to the complexity of the relationship. You can love and hate them at the same time and yet in most cases you will always be there when they need you - if you're lucky to have that kind of closeness with your siblings. Not all sibs are that close of course, but there is a very special dynamic to siblings both in real life and in fiction.
My favorite siblings to write, of course, are the Silverstone sisters from The Gift Bearer because they're so opposite in personality, but so close in their ages and are as close as any siblings can be. There's also something fun about writing an exchange between two sibs who are getting mad at each other and bringing up some event from the distant past just to piss each other off. This is a snipet of dialogue from Episode 11 of the unfilmed original second season:
PERI: We don't bother with reunions cause we've never really been apart for very long.
XAVIER: Doesn't that get annoying after a while?
MINERVA: That's why mom left us a big house.
PERI: Yeah, cause Minerva would suck as a roommate!
MINERVA: I would not! At least I don't leave make-up everywhere!
PERI: You leave chemicals lying around where anyone could drink them!
MINERVA: That's your own fault for being stupid enough to drink a dangerous chemical!
PERI: You were the one who stored it in a milk jug!
MINERVA: Yeah, but it didn't look like milk!
PERI: I thought it was Gatoraid!
MINERVA: Well you were wrong!
PERI: It was in the fridge, what was I supposed to think?!?
ATLANTA: (sarcastic) Oh yeah, the joys of having sisters.
See? Totally fun to write. I also love writing the exchanges between Molly & May (who are twins) and between them and other characters who are often confused by them.
The Silverstone Sisters: Peri, Atlanta, and Minerva
Played by Brittany Ann Whalen, Christine Komiskey, and Morgan Thomas in The Gift Bearer
On the more dramatic side of things, I'm currently reading I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb, which is about identical twin brothers, one of whom is schizophrenic. It's told from the sane twin's point of view, and it's great. An emotional roller coaster, to be sure, but great nonetheless.
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