There was no interference, nothing on a creative level, you have the idea, you go for it. And that's what it was like with all the shows made back th… - D. J. MacHale

I rarely take the characteristics of someone I know and make them a complete fictional character, except maybe with truly minor characters who only play a small role. All of my characters are more like the Frankenstein monster, having been stitched together using multiple real people. The classic advice to any writer is "write what you know". So in order to create believable characters, you have to write about people you know.

A script is only the beginning of the process. But with books, what you write is exactly what people read. So as a writer, that's very satisfying.

The thing is, kids love scary stories. They love dramatic stories. They love that kind of stuff. It’s one of the reasons why I write books now. I’m able to write the kind of stuff I like, whereas in TV I can’t do that anymore.