 Lord has two children, a son, and a daughter, and was inspired by them while writing "Rules".She states that the character of David is loosely based on her autistic son, while the character of Catherine is a mixture of herself and her daughter, who loves to draw.Most of the characters and incidents come from a very personal place in Lord's life, including the character of Jason, who was very loosely inspired by an experience she had as a kid while watching a child in a wheelchair communicating with his mother.