Attn JMS: Did B5 change as you did?

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: bknight255 at aol.com (BKnight255)
Date: 15 Sep 1997 22:55:04 -0400
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This is going to seem really weird.

I've been struggling with a science-fiction concept and story since I was
ten years old ... I've scrapped it and restarted about four times.  I write
here and there, in the little time I can sneak in between work and sleep
... and something's starting to take shape.

Where it gets weird is:  the other day I had a rather sharp downturn in my
life, an event which shook my faith in the human race.  And when I returned
to typing out my story, I noticed that my main protagonist had suddenly
become darker, bleaker, more haunted than the person I'd initially constructed.

Did you notice any of the characters on B5 change with the events in your
life -- the downturns, upturns, side-to-side?  I mean, did Londo cheer up
in some scene or other as a result of something in your life ... or
something like that?

Or am I beginning to lose my mind?

Because I'm staring at a guy I created when I was ten years old, and he's
turning into a noir-ish character who's lost his faith and his hope, and
the whole world around him is getting less cheery by the minute.  None of
which I anticipated or intended.

Does this make any sense at all?  Or should I fit myself for those spiffy
white jackets with the really long sleeves?

Bruce Knight
bknight255 at aol.com
"The word 'impossible' ... is to be found only in a dictionary of fools."

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 16 Sep 1997 04:00:52 -0400
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>Did you notice any of the characters on B5 change with the events in your
>life -- the downturns, upturns, side-to-side?  I mean, did Londo cheer up
>in some scene or other as a result of something in your life ... or
>something like that?

Somebody said, "A story is a writer's way of saying "This is who I am
today, and this is how the world looks to me today." "  Consequently, it
always changes as the writer changes and (one hopes) grows.  B5, written
now, is not the same as it would be if I wrote it back in 1987; I hope I'm
a better writer now, and I think I'm a better person now.  And the life
experiences available to me to put into the *characters* life experiences
are broader.

It does affect B5, in many small and large ways.  In the latter part of
S4, I was constantly running low on sleep...so what you tended to see was
the characters lamenting that they can't get one good night's sleep around
the place...if some question came along and blindsided me, it ended up in
the show...it's all grist for the mill.

There's a hell of a lot more of me in B5 than even *I* want to think about
most days.


 jms
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