Jean S McKnight <105513.130@compuserve.com> asks:
> I know that you have the overall arc of the series mapped out,
> but when you write an individual script, do you follow a
> "template" of some sort and create the story to fit it, or does
> the story just spring full-blown into your head, a la Mozart? Do
> you, for example, decide ahead of time how many scenes there will
> be and where the characters will be at the end of each? If there
> is no set method that you use, could you, as a kindness to the
> adoring masses of lesser mortals, try for a moment to imagine
> that you are not a genius, and you must write a story from
> scratch, by lunch, or its no beans for you? What would you start
> with? Would you begin with a framework/checklist of some sort, or
> just set a character down and see what he does?

It's a combination of things, and very hard to explain. I come
to a given episode knowing I have to do X...X might be "this is the one
where I have to plant the info about the giant space ferrets," or "this
is the one where Lennier gets nailed in bed by Londo." Then I kind of
check in on the characters in my head...I know what they've been going
through, and I see how they're feeling about it, where they are, what's
going on...then I sit down and "watch" the events in my head like
watching a movie, or watching the news. Some scenes are vaguer than
others, so I keep replaying it in my head until I can see the whole
thing...then I write it all down.

In the latter case you mention, having nothing, and being under
the gun, I always, *always* start with character rather than a series
of incidents or plot points. Because character is the key to
everything: plot, structure, all of it. All you need to know is who
your character is, what he wants, how far he will go to get it, and how
far somebody else will go to stop him. The rest follows naturally.

jms