ATTN: JMS The end

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: ATTN: JMS The end
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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s  1: Dec 18, 1996: "Matthew J. Rudnick" <mrudnick at lax.net>
+  2: Dec 19, 1996: root at newsb.att.com
*  3: Dec 20, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: "Matthew J. Rudnick" <mrudnick at lax.net>
Lines: 12

In one of your posts you said you figure out the end before you even
start to write.  ON this I am forced to wonder.  When I write I find
many times the end turns out to be quite differant from what I think or
intend it to be when I start.  Usually, when this happens I'm overjoyed
because what I end up writeing ends up being much better than what I
thought of at the start.  What this boils down to is... is the ending
you invisioned at the start of Babylon 5 the same today as it was then? 


	Thanks.
		Matthew J. Rudnick


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From: root at newsb.att.com
Lines: 48

Matthew J. Rudnick wrote:
> 
> In one of your posts you said you figure out the end before you even
> start to write.  ON this I am forced to wonder.  When I write I find
> many times the end turns out to be quite differant from what I think or
> intend it to be when I start.  Usually, when this happens I'm overjoyed
> because what I end up writeing ends up being much better than what I
> thought of at the start.  What this boils down to is... is the ending
> you invisioned at the start of Babylon 5 the same today as it was then?
> 
>         Thanks.
>                 Matthew J. Rudnick

While I would not presume to speak for another, I would like to add my
own personal observations.  I have had three general experiences when
playing with shorter fiction--short story to novella-length.  

1.  I start with one or more major characters, an environment and a
general story idea (more just a concept, not a plot); these can end up
anywhere, including the trash.  (Kinda the day-dream approach to
writing.)

2.  I start with a basic plot with a clear cut end, come up with a
starting point and try to get there from here--the end is likely to
change in some fundamental way and I enjoy watching the story progress;
it feels almost like being a reader.

3.  The whole story comes to me at once--major characters, essential
plot, beginning, end; the only things to really work out are minor
characters, details that fill in the plot and window dressing.  In this
case, there are still things that come as a surprise--and these nearly
always make the whole better, but usually they are details.  For
example, character A may do something I originally thought character B
would do, but once I got there I realized the new version made more
sense; or even the order of events might change a bit--or perhaps the
location of a scene.  In this case, the "changes" generally strengthen
the original idea and make the end more... "real."

IIRC, JMS has said the B5 story arc came to him all at once--like my
#3.  I would assume that his ongoing experience is also similar, in that
it is in the details that surprises occur, not in the fundamental
backbone of his story.

-- 
Dianne
(aka dheins at intr.net)



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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 14

"What this boils down to is... is the ending you invisioned at the start
of Babylon 5 the same today as it was then?"

For the most part, yeah...it's gotten a bit refined over time, the way it
always does the closer you get to it...it's like seeing a mountain from a
great distance, then closing in until you can make out the details.  But
basically, yeah.


 jms




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