One early concern of the writers was that, while they were finally cleared by DC Comics to actually use Lois Lane , they had to avoid strains of characterization overlap with her cousin, Chloe Sullivan, who was aspiring to professional journalism from the start of the show. The writers kept this concern in mind according to DeKnight, but overall did not regard it as too much of a challenge. Lois, after all, had not latched on to her future career upon arrival.
"Originally there was some concern about duplication of character. I know some online fans complained that Lois is going to steal Chloe's thunder. And there was some conspiracy theory that Lois is going to die and Chloe take her identity."
DeKnight dismissed such "conspiracies", illuming some of the reasoning behind their ease with featuring two aspiring female reporters.
"It's like 'Wait a minute, now Clark's also going to become a journalist and that doesn't step on Chloe," he said, pointing out that besides Clark—who has yet to actively aspire toward the profession—there are countless journalists, and different types at that.
"I understand the concerns that her cousin is already a journalist." But just as Clark's end point is a cape and alter ego as a means to his heroic end, however, "Lois has to slowly figure it all out, too," her own means to effecting change in her world.
DeKnight continues, "And Lois approaches it from a completely different perspective. She's very much the classic, shoot from the hip, get-into-trouble Lois." He said that the writers gradually wrote a deliberate contrast between style and ethics and overall approach between the two budding journalists and cousins.
"We wanted to distinguish between how the two of them go about it. What we were doing was important because we didn't want both of them doing the same thing." As such, Lois is written as having her characteristic penchant for undercover investigative work and Chloe is written as a computer-oriented researcher; Lois initially vocalized cynicism about reporters and Chloe has unbridled enthusiasm about it from the outset.
And when finally in the bullpen herself, Lois shown killing a story that would be spun tastelessly by her tabloid's editor, in contrast to many similar stories Chloe had written and run with nary a pause for concern. DeKnight cites this scene, in the episode Reunion, as one of the subtly defining moments for Lois, laying the groundwork for eventual realizations about her craft and how she wants to pursue it. "There were ethics starting poking up right there...in that scene. We're definitely trying to distinguish between the two styles."
"And we deliberately started Lois out at a tabloid, getting her feet wet there, and then towards the end of the season she really starts to try to get into more serious journalism. But first we definitely want to distinguish between them and their styles."
Besides talking about the journalistic considerations going into writing Lois—even the introduction of her interest was a call back to guest star and future boss Perry White’s strange experience with Clark’s malfunctioning abilities—DeKnight segued into the matters of the heart between the comics’ most famous romantic duo.
