The writing process began with story premises being pitched to Zaslove, who served as story editor for the first season. The best ones were selected and sent to ABC executives for approval, followed by story outlines and scripts. The process took around four weeks per episode. The crew were "dyed-in-the-wool" fan of Milne's works, constantly checking their work against published "Pooh" books in order to stay true to the original sense of Milne. Special attention was given to maintain the personalities of the characters as they had originally been written. The cartoon attempted to have the right balance of both action-adventure sequences and moments of whimsy. The staff often found trouble working with the limited cast, with supervising director Ken Kessel quoted as saying: "You are restrained by what the characters can do and who they are". The writing staff hoped to channel the spirit of the Walt Disney shorts of the 1940s, drawing inspiration from artists Jack Hannah, Ward Kimball, and Jack and Dick Kinney.