I think everyone secretly watches Dr. Phil...and are just too embarrassed to admit it...

Anything but Dr. Phil, Oprah, or whatever women watch.

Al Bundy and Tim Taylor are my teachers.

I really find just being around other people help me as a writer. For instance, I know this real tough-guy jock, who's afraid of thunder storms in the dark. Why? Who knows, but I'm sure it's not uncommon, so I could use it to connect to readers. But for school classes, I like languages (English, French, Ukrainian) and Gov't. I'm going to be taking psych next year, and I think that'll probably be my most helpful class As far as education goes, you have to know what makes people tick in order to make a good story click with the reader(s)

I think of it more as why do people think the way they do... that's what I'm most interested in.

i agree with the why of it also...

i don't have the level of skill that will allow me to write something somebody else wants to read. i'm trapped inside my own head.

i churn it out, then watch with interest to see who bites the hook. sometimes i will put out something i think is novel only to find it flops... sometimes i get the reverse and i sit and wonder what on earth the attraction could possibly be to that "weird" story i wrote.

i do believe that a broad education will enable a person to write on a larger scale, it's hard to twist something you don't see...

Well, back when I was doing the college thing... I was heading for a educational degree in drama. Though, I had started with just doing a General Studies (lame), trying to put all the lame stuff behind me (Math, Science). It has its place, but it isn't for me, that's for sure.

Topics that influence my writing are crime, history, folklore, mythology, etc. I'm not sure if I could say I'm a one genre man. When it comes to writing short stories, I tend to lean towards the dark and disturbing, so most of my stuff is either horror or mystery.

As I co-own an independent production company, I do a lot of script writing. I'm actually pretty decent at both the dark and disturbing and comedy. Though, comedy in short story form for me, doesn't usually happen. I try to avoid it, because it doesn't seem to come out quite right. It's the dialogue that I can be funny with, but you can't rely on dialogue in a short story.

I'm getting distracted and digressing.

I believe I already answered the question. I do a lot of personal research, even though I am not going to school now. I study a lot of crime, serial killers, vampire mythology, Greek mythology and history, etc. More than anything, though, most of my stories contain a lot of personal experiences.

I'll confess, I watched the old "Little Women" movie that starred Katherine Hepburn. But, I'm glad I did, not because I really liked it much, but because a very true point was made. At one point in the movie, an older gentleman friend of Hepburn's character read some of her stories and gave her a little lecture about what she was doing wrong... she wasn't writing what she knew. The most important thing when I write is to make it relate to something real, no matter how surreal a story it may be. There must be themes that I can relate to, so that I can write them accurately and so that the reader can get something from the story. When I write something about crime, I pay less attention to all the little details of what hair landed where or what grease whiped from what forehead to what hand to which bedpost and pay more attention to "what is the point?" And I try to make sure it's something that I have experience in, so that I truly understand it first. Because if I can't understand what I am writing about, then how can I expect others to understand?

Good grief, I have written a novel. As you can see, I can be longwinded sometimes. Laters.

I just got my AA, and am 9 units away from getting my AS in Math. 4 units if I want my AS in General Science. I am looking for a good online school to get my BS in Accounting. I graduated from HS back in the good old days...and I graduated in the top ten of my class. We didn't have a Valedictorian, just the top ten were recognized at graduation. But I was brought up as a dancer (ballerina you perverted brains) and had a scholarship to the performing arts college in New York, but had knee surgery when I was 14, screwing up my professional career.

So..what do I write about...seems like relationships and sex. How does that fit in with a Math degree and a balletic background? Not sure that it does.

Okay, now I forgot what the question was....hahahahahahaha!!!!!