Instead of poison lipstick, the warden had poison nail polish. But then I ended up liking Kissing Kate Barlow, and liking her character. So, instead I made the warden the granddaughter of Trout Walker. I probably would have come up with different ideas, if I had the time to continue to write. Well, the books and the characters and stories and settings all develop together.
Names are always a little difficult.
Right before my daughter was born, my wife and I got a book called 10,000 Baby Names , and I still look through that book when I look for names. The kids of Wayside School are all named after kids in an elementary school where I worked while going to college. And then the nicknames in Holes were just fun names to think of. Although, I came up with the name Stanley Yelnats because I didn't feel like figuring out a last name. So, I just spelled his last name backwards and figured I'd change it later.