Ah I see. It's a fairly common thought (at least in some parts of the world), though of course it's not true. Robbie Williams even sang a song with words reflecting the sentiment called Supreme.
I understand and wasn't surprised about Alex's taste at all! And yeah, I understand that Alex is that way, shoot first & ask q's later. Just part of what makes her so interesting..
But anyway it's your text, and I don't mean to complain or sound unappreciative! =) Seriously.. it really is so very good. I uhh.. I read all four books in a very short space of time, giving up a few hours of sleep here and there to finish them.

I've thought about the nature of the different story telling engines, and have some ideas about how I'd go about making a story. I'd start by perhaps listing a bunch of cool things that pop into my mind, followed by a list of wants/needs, and then imagine what kinds of characters would suit a particular drive. Then I'd upscale and downscale these wants and needs to fit the characters into a world. There's more to it.. I suppose, but I was wondering, what kind of basic model do you use?