Trainwrecks S2 Mid-Season Q&A

Where We Answer Your Questions!

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Welcome to the Season 2 Mid-Season Q&A! I’d like to thank everyone who submitted questions for today’s post. Now that we’re all freshly traumatized by Duke and Victoria’s breakup, let’s get into it!

1. For the kids: It's 2005! Is anybody watching any cool new shows? Such as, I dunno... a little gem called Avatar the Last Airbender?? (And if any of the characters has access to BBC shows, New Doctor Who?) 😁😁 Or... read any good books lately? (Two well-known YA series debuted this year... which is one of the few things they have in common with each other lol.)

Luna: So there’s this book I’m reading called Twilight and it takes place in Washington and it’s about a girl named Bella who moves here from Arizona and there’s this guy in her class who belongs to this weird family and anyway HE’S A VAMPIRE AND THEY’RE IN LOVE—!!
Victoria: *watery-eyed* Dimitri and I watch Doctor Who with our parents on the weekends…
Dimitri: *holding an ice pack to his face* Mom loves it. It’s the pro-wrestling levels of cheesiness that really does it for her.
Victoria: I used to make Duke watch Dancing With the Stars with me… *chokes up*
Dimitri: …Criminal Minds is pretty good, too.
Luna: —and there’s this other book called Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and it’s basically about how being pretty makes you stupid HAHAHA
Sebastian: *is addicted to Lost*
Jasmine: The Office, How I Met Your Mother, So You Think You Can Dance, and I always end up watching Intervention when it’s on…
Luna: Duke and I have been watching Avatar the Last Airbender too. *sad smile*

(Duke could not be reached for comment.)

2. For the lovely author: I've enjoyed following your Tumblr posts documenting the writing of this series, giving little sneak peeks into the future, and embellishing on the character through fun facts and little sketches! Thanks for all the extra love you give to your work. :) Anyway, I was wondering about your process of planning out a season of this series. How do you decide on how many episodes it needs to be? What goes into Monday episodes vs. Wednesday chat episodes and vice versa? If "filler episodes" will be added (and so far, nothing has felt like filler!)? Overall themes for the season... all that fun stuff!

Since I know all the major events/plot points in Trainwrecks, I plan seasons around what’s happening each year. S1 was pretty simple in that it followed the development of Duke and Victoria’s relationship, so naturally the ending would be his birthday party where they shared their first kiss. This season was a bit trickier because there’s a breakup, a birthday party, a prom, and a graduation. What helps is that each of these events are major developments for the ships involved, so the season builds towards them. I also consider each character’s individual development and arcs. (Seb tends to arc in the middle of seasons. He’s a little troublemaker like that.) As for episodes, I try to aim for 20, but they could be longer or shorter depending. I consider Monday episodes the main story which is all planned in advance, so Wednesday episodes are the entertaining connective tissue that hold them together, and those are completely improvised. I may have been a four-panel comic artist in my past life.

3. My nosy questions for the kids: Is/was anyone in any clubs at school?

• Luna: Yearbook committee, prom committee, art club

• Sebastian: Go home club

• Jasmine: Go home club

• Dimitri: Debate team

• Victoria: Private piano lessons (morning)

• Duke: Yearbook committee

4. What's everyone's bedroom like, like who's the cleanest/messiest?

• Dimitri’s room: Small with a window that faces the front yard. Furniture consists of bed, desk, chair, and bookcase crammed with textbooks on every subject. There’s a poster for the (fictional) MMORPG TOWERS on his wall. It’s the cleanest room in his mother’s house, but not the cleanest of the kids’ rooms.

• Victoria’s room: A pink and beige nightmare done in a rococo style. Furniture consists of canopy bed, night stand, dresser, vanity, television, stereo, and an old fashioned trunk. Brahms usually hides in there so there’s cat hair everywhere. It gets surprisingly messy because Victoria only cleans it when she’s pissed off or has company coming over.

• Duke’s room: The original idea was a nautical theme so the walls are painted navy blue. Furniture consists of a large bed, desk (the computer lives here), TV stand, a huge bookcase full of CDs, and a smaller bookcase full of manga. His old boogie board hangs on the wall alongside several band posters. It would be messier if his mom didn’t nag him so much.

• Sebastian’s room: Furniture consists of bed, dresser, desk, and wall shelves. One corner is taken up by his acoustic and electric guitars and a speaker. It is the cleanest of the kids’ rooms because the feeling of being a guest in someone else’s house is still buried in his subconscious.

• Jasmine’s room: Furniture consists of a daybed, a full-length mirror, a dresser, a desk, a CD tower, and a nightstand. Purple accents are scattered throughout (rug, pillows). She has boyband posters on her wall and a few stuffed animals. It is surprisingly girly and innocent.

• Luna’s room: The messiest and most cluttered of the kids’ rooms. Furniture consists of bed, dresser, desk, mannequin bust, and two small bookcases stuffed with manga and YA novels. Her desk is covered in stuff, including her sewing machine, schoolwork, camera equipment, fabric samples, and other supplies. She has two ball-jointed dolls that live on top of her dresser. Her closet is bursting with clothes and has a mirror hanging from the door. There are books, clothes, and crafting debris all over the floor. Her walls are covered in paintings she’s done and photos she’s taken.

5. Why does Duke sound like that?

(My husband jokingly asks this question every time he hears someone speaking French.)

6. Top three inspirations for Trainwrecks?

Mid-2000’s pop punk, early 2000’s romantic teen comedies, and my own teenage years.

7. Dear Luna: Why haven’t you been on a date with Patrick yet?

Luna: *sitting on her grandparents’ porch* Who says I haven’t?! He came over a few days ago to study for our math exam together…
Sebastian: That was a date?
Luna: Not all of us MAKE OUT ON THE FIRST DATE, SEB
Sebastian: I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Luna: Like half of Dorado didn’t see you and Yaneli yesterday. D8<
Sebastian: *slips on sunglasses* I’m telling you, you have the wrong guy. *walks off with his guitar strapped to his back*
Luna: I hate his Puerto Rican alter ego. = 3=

8. If Trainwrecks could take place anywhere else (think of NCIS), where would it be set?

Austin, Texas.

9. How many marshmallows can everyone fit in their mouths?

• Sebastian: Doesn’t like marshmallows.

• Luna: She wants to get that fifth one in there so bad.

• Victoria: She’s too embarrassed to go beyond two.

• Duke: At least six, but he’s not in the mood right now.

• Dimitri: Choked on the fourth and had to be given the Heimlich

• Jasmine: Censored for modesty (but she won)

10. The kids Freaky Friday with their parents. Who gets arrested first?

Isn’t it obvious?

Dimitri!James: *behind bars* Revenge.

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And that’s all for this season’s Q&A! Next week, Trainwrecks will be taking a break so I can get some rest and think about other things before my birthday. We’ll be back with Episode 12 on Memorial Day (May 26th).

As always, thank you for reading.

Carla B.