GingerbreadSpy

But bragging and tooting my own horn can be such fun! Of course, it is good to let people know ahead of time that one's ego may, in fact, be the size of a small (or fairly large) planet.

Anyway, I think this is an excellent post for the newbies! It's good to get to know people as people first.

Indeed. Carbon copies are quite boring. I usually avoid that sort of thing through a "bits and pieces" method myself. I'm usually not inspired by one source but a multitude of sources. lol

I love reading character development type stuff. I would've never guessed one of your characters was inspired by South Park. LOL... I'd say that was weird, but I've been inspired by some odd things myself.

Since it pops up so often (not just in this fandom, but in others as well), I suspect most people don't realize that they're taking the lazy way out. I think it's probably more of an ignorance thing. Beginner writers just don't know any better. It only becomes lazy when they refuse to see the logic in trying to improve and just not improve.

Excellent entry of encouragement! (I love alliteration.) I hope it doesn't take a month for my character, but I'll try to be patient. It does sound like you guys got a lot on your plates!