various from jms - writing question

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: "Jim Ramsden" <mail at jimramsden.com>
Date: 17 Jan 2001 06:31:33 -0700
Lines: 113

Question about the writing process that does apply to this thread, in a way.

I just spent a half an hour writing a huge reply that said all I wanted to
say about B5, and thanked you Joe, and I led to a question that I knew the
answer to as soon as I finished typing it.

Then I reread it, and that still voice said 'cancel it'. Not because it
wasn't kind of cool, or relevant, or whatever gets replies into reply
heaven, or least reply purgatory, but because it was the thing to do. I
started out and I took my trip down the screen, and at the bottom, I
answered my own question. It felt like a private journey. One that the voice
said would only be dimished by looking at it any more. It needed to fly and
not be saved. I have a strange quiet voice, but I am learning more and more
to not question it. I find myself writing huge e-mails lately to various
people, and then never sending them, just cancelling them, and feeling a
weird liberation while doing so. I've done the same with characters. I take
your questions from B5 and add a bunch of my own. I make up bizarre
questions and write them converstaion style to emulate rapid fire grilling
and yelling. I answer them for a character who forms in my head and
sometimes it takes quite a while. I write their death scene and then I close
the window and don't save it, letting those characters go. It's scary
because every time, I think 'but that's so cool! I could use that!', but the
voice says I need to do this for a while in order to be truly free.

I went through the same thing with music years ago. I would make the coolest
little melodies and just let them go. Didn't write them or record them or
anything. I thought of it as 'giving them to the universe'. But that was
easy because every single time I pick up an instrument, even if it's the
first time, something kind of cool comes out.

Writing is different. It was the thing I did as a kid before I knew it was
called 'writing'. Then I found out what it was. It got so many accolades and
pretensions attached to it by so many smart, stuffy people that I had
trouble finishing a sentence without hearing all those voices yelling such
things as 'Dangling Participle?!', 'You want to start a sentence like
THAT???!', 'That's too many/not enough details! That character is overly
dramatic/flat!' 'What, is English your seventeenth language?!!!' The reason
I can spend a half an hour on a reply is I'm locked in an editor mode most
of it. I think this throwing away stuff is a cleansing. It's saying 'Big
deal'.

But hey. The question.

Did you ever hit a period like that?

I don't suppose it'll change my journey, as it's mine and stuff, but just
wondering if you've been through the same. I could cancel this one too, but
that voice is being real quite right now. I'll take that as a 'Yes, go ahead
and send it'.

--

- jim
"I thought I was crazy, until I learned it was all in my head."
http://www.jimramsden.com/



"Jms at B5" <jmsatb5 at aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010116001309.04060.00001749 at ng-ma1.aol.com...
A number of items here, of varying timeliness and relevance.

As some have noted, Bookface.com is now an ex-website.  For those wanting to
get their hands on Tribulations, the book is still available from
darktales.com.  There are no plans currently to put the book up anywhere
else
online.

Rising Stars 12 and Midnight Nation 5 came out a few weeks ago (would've
made
more mention of this but it's been kinda hectic here lately on a number of
fronts).

(And speaking of comics stuff, Crusade writer and B5 Reference Editor Fiona
Avery wrote the script for the X-Men Annual 2000, which came out last week
from
Marvel.  Her own series, No Honor, will debut from Top Cow late February.
Folks can keep up on her stuff at www.fionaavery.com)

My first draft screenplay for the Rising Stars movie went in on Christmas
day,
and the studio reaction has been EXTREMELY positive.  I can't say more about
this at the moment, but things are looking very good for the long haul on
this.

I've turned in 4 scripts for new City of Dreams episodes, but due to
production
tie-ups on other projects at Seeing Ear Theater, they won't be up at
www.scifi.com/cityofdreams until around the first week of February.

Finally...and you'll have to forgive the vagueness of this...B5 fans may
want
to keep their ears to the ground for the next few weeks.  There are several
things that have been simmering for a while now, which I haven't commented
on
because I wanted them to be realities, not possibilities, before I said
anything.  I think the former may finally be working out...so keep an eye on
this newsgroup for the next few weeks.  There may be a number of interesting
announcements.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)







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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 17 Jan 2001 17:13:17 -0700
Lines: 23

>But hey. The question.
>
>Did you ever hit a period like that?
>

Sure.  Half of what writing is, is learning what needs to be thrown
out...getting the thought down one way, the wrong way, so you can then figure
out how to write it the *right* way.

And canceling emails before sending is sometimes the best thing one can do with
them.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)




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