on whose homemaking skills the five other main characters heavily rely, similar to the relationship between Snow White and the seven dwarfs. Although Monica began Friends as the show's straight person, the writers eventually made her funnier by incorporating aspects of Cox's own personality into the character, in addition to writing wittier material for her. Identified by Ayn Bernos of Thought Catalog as "the epitome of a ... control freak", Refinery29's Kelsey Miller summarized Monica's personality as funny, uptight, loving, and competitive. A very organized character with a signature Type A personality who enjoys being in charge, Monica is known for being a "neat freak" obsessed with cleanliness – especially when it comes to maintaining the impeccable condition of her apartment – neurotic, extremely obsessive-compulsive, and competitive in nature, personality traits that are exaggerated for humor and comic relief; the writers did not begin to take full comedic advantage of Monica's neuroses until the show's first Thanksgiving episode. The character is also the loudest of her friends. In her book Writing With Emotion, Tension, and Conflict: Techniques for Crafting an Expressive and Compelling Novel, author Cheryl St. John wrote that Monica exhibits qualities commonly associated with perfectionism and bossiness. James Tison of Bustle wrote that Monica's cleanliness and bossiness often relinquishes her to being "the lame one" among her friends, although "she proved that sometimes rules and responsibility were important". However, the Los Angeles Times Steve Weinstein observed that Monica's actions often tend to contradict her "Miss Perfect" image and reputation, explaining that the character frequently "makes a fool of herself" in addition to being "so compulsively neat that just her facial expressions of discomfort at one of her friends' messing things up in her apartment is enough to provoke genuine chuckles." Although several of Monica's personality traits and mannerisms make the character a strong candidate for obsessive-compulsive disorder, they are treated as "quirky and amusing" as opposed to a disability or disease; her friends either ignore or find humor in her peculiarities. As creator and writer, Kauffman confirmed that Monica's extremely organized personality is based on her own, explaining, "I have a lot of Monica in me, in terms of everything having to be a certain way." Writing about the development of Monica's personality in USA Today, Robert Bianco observed that the character gradually evolves from "the caring, nurturing mother figure ... into a slightly off-the-beam benevolent monarch." By