When I originally wrote Odes, I created a simple "cheat" to get me quickly writing characters with diverse and unique voices.

I had the challenge of a very large, then-eleven person (now twelve; yikes!) ensemble cast, with three distinct collections of people. The three groups interact both insularly amongst themselves, and outwardly with other groups and individuals in the bar. Each group needed to be clearly of their own tribe, and with so many characters I needed some way for me to keep both the tribal voice and the individual voices unique and honest.

“...in fact, I personally found it important for my knowledge be rather shallow. ”

My trick was to take people from reference material and then to use their essence to fuel my own characters' intentions and behaviors. For me, it didn't matter what my real knowledge of the source material was; in fact, I personally found it important for my knowledge be rather shallow. Having little knowledge let me use what I perceived as some essence, without getting tangled up in what is true or deeply known about the thing.

For one group I used an old friend's parents as I remembered them from elementary school. For another I tried to write them as Nora Ephron might. And for the third I used religious sources - the Old and New Testaments - but only the stories as I vaguely knew the or understood them to be; I am not a religious scholar.

For the last example, sourcing inspiration from the Bible, the tribe at play was Rachel, Jacob, Michael, David, Judd, and Summer.

The Tribe from the 1999 production of Odes.  From left: back row - Carl L. Carter as DAVID, Stacie Hart (part of different tribe), Christopher Marshall as JACOB, Lindsay Brandon Hunter as SUMMER; front row - Marnice Richmond as RACHEL, Reb… — The Tribe from the 1999 production of *Odes*. From left: back row - Carl L. Carter as DAVID, Stacie Hart (part of different tribe), Christopher Marshall as JACOB, Lindsay Brandon Hunter as SUMMER; front row - Marnice Richmond as RACHEL, Rebecca Corry as MICHAEL, Mark Cooper as JUDD. Photo: Matt Hagen

The character of Summer was named for the Samaritan woman the well, which I had good and mixed up with the story of the Good Samaritan on the road, and thought was spelled with a "U", as in "Sumaritan"; hence "Summer". And this is to my earlier point: it doesn't matter that I didn't know the real story. My imagined and wrongly understood notion served the purpose of keeping me focused when writing her… that she was part of this tribe's story, and that she was a good person who to tended to assume the best about others.

Likewise, Rachel, Jacob, and Michael (originally named Leah) were named for a love triangle in the Bible, where Jacob desires one, but feels tricked into marrying the other. Leah became Michael for the Archangel Michael - who I only knew as the leader of an army in a great war in Heaven - because I wanted her voice to be strong, and for her to be the clear conqueror in the end. David because David was a warrior and a musician; my interpretation being stoic but deeply loving. And lastly Judd for Judas; again, not because I knew the real story, but because Judas is the ultimate antagonist - one deeply loved who betrays his brother.

All of these characters continued to evolve in to much more this might imply; none of them having anything to do with their source material ultimately. But this little cheat helped me to keep tribal themes and perspective clears, while giving each character a simple thematic spine for me to fall back on when measuring their intentions.