[B5JMS] Where is JMS? In the past he defended Sins Past

[b5jms at cs.columbia.edu]

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From: Captain Omega <Captain_member at newsguy.com>
Date: 11 Oct 2004 06:56:43 -0700
Lines: 38

In article <20041011062151.25923.00002166 at mb-m03.aol.com>, Jms at B5 says...

>>There would have been just as much drama if they had aged normally ( and be 
>>what now ? 6-ish )
>
>Now, imagine the drawings in the book of Spidey slugging it out with
>six-year-olds...
>
>
> jms

I'm going to reiterate a feeling I stated in an earlier post-- and this time,
I'll try and do a better job of making my point perfectly clear.

At some point you had the idea for this story. Maybe it started with Gwen; maybe
it started with giving Norman Osborn kids who could come back and harrass
Spidey. Whatever. Regardless-- at some point you had the idea to make these
*Gwen's* kids. At this stage, you realize that if they're Gwen's kids, they
can't be more than six years old, tops. When you reach this stage, you should
have said to yourself, "okay, I obviously can't make this work." Instead, you
come up with the outrageous idea that the kids somehow aged 18 years in just
six. You had an idea that can't reasonably work but (for some reason) you were
absolutely committed to write it, CREDIBILITY BE DAMNED. This is BAD
storytelling. When you say "imagine the drawings in the book of Spidey slugging
it out with six-year-olds," it only serves to prove this point.

There are a lot of times when I'm in the middle of writing a story or article
and I have an idea for a point or a piece of dialogue that I just fall in love
with and I feel like I've GOT to put it in. Then, when I go to put it in, I just
can't make it fit. At this point, I can do one of two things: 1) Put it in to
please myself but ruin the story or article in the process, or 2) Leave it out
of the article and file it away in my brain to be (better) used at another time.
Unfortunately, you chose the former option and wound up telling a horrendously
awful story.


Cap


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Lines: 30
From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 12 Oct 2004 05:01:37 GMT

>Regardless-- at some point you had the idea to make these
>*Gwen's* kids. At this stage, you realize that if they're Gwen's kids, they
>can't be more than six years old, tops. When you reach this stage, you should
>have said to yourself, "okay, I obviously can't make this work." Instead, you
>come up with the outrageous idea that the kids somehow aged 18 years in just
>six. You had an idea that can't reasonably work but (for some reason) you
>were
>absolutely committed to write it, CREDIBILITY BE DAMNED. This is BAD
>storytelling. 

How does one apply that rule in a universe that incorporates Sorcerers Supreme,
Thunder Gods, mutants, gamma-ray strong-guys, and somebody who got bit by an
irradiated spider who suddenly gains its powers...?

Why are all THOSE things credible and rapid aging inconceivable when we even
have a rough scientific basis for that in progeria, where we see children start
to age and even die of old age by thirteen...where there has not been even a
*hint* of scientific data to support anybody getting powers from irradiated
spiders?


 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd., 
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine 
and don't send me story ideas)