>At the bottom of a Crusade video review it reads "One of Crusade
>creators JMS' favourite magazines, it seems, was our late and lemented
>sister mag, Cult TV. One of his least favourite magazines is Cult TV's
>still thriving sister mag, SFX."
>
>They can't let it go can they?

Just proves that the good die young while banality thrives.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)

>I will admit to a (morbid?) interest in what drives a writer to write
>though. Joe has said several times that he loves to tell a story.
>Given that the result was B5 among other stuff, this is great. I *am*
>curious as to *why* writers are driven to tell a story though, since I
>am fairly convinced that whatever that drive is, I ain't got it!

A true writer -- as opposed to someone who's only in it for the bucks, or who
just want the Pointy Hat that says "I sold something" -- can't NOT write.
Stories are always unfolding behind your eyes, and the only way to get rid of
them is to write them up and send them away.

Case in point...during our first trip to England about 12 years ago, my wife
told me, very specifically, "We're not going overseas so you can write. This
is a vacation. No writing."

I said sure, no problem...and by the third day there I'd bought a small pen and
a pocket-sized spiral notebook in a pharmacists, and was secretly making notes
on my next novel (which became OtherSyde) in the bathroom at night.

Just can't *not* do it.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)

>Is there any "sadness" (probably a bad word, but can't think of a
>better one at the mo. - "regret" maybe?) about subsequent efforts not
>being as meaningful as the first, or does it really get reduced to
>just jobbing work?
>

Don't take one person's impressions -- especially one speaking as a non-writer
-- as necessarily accurate. If every new thing I wrote wasn't as meaningful to
me as the last thing, or the first thing that I wrote, I'd get out of the
business.

Because at that point you've got no business being IN the business.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)

>I assume you're talking about Gharlane there, not Tom who's a very
>successful writer (been reading some of his stuff myself lately. Hilarious!)

Then I must apologize; I was referring to Tom's message, and didn't know he was
a working writer. His work, I confess, is unfamiliar to me. Nonetheless, the
error there was mine.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)

>Understandable, since it crashed & burned in the US market; though
>I'd have thought you might at least have seen the review column I
>used to write for SFX...

Takes a lot for a man to come out and admit he wrote pornography....


jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)

>I'm sure I will mangle the original, but Ed Bryant (those of you who
>know him, know that a Truer Wryter Nivver Hath Beene) said once:
>"Writer's Block is like a big English sheepdog with matted fur and
>bad breath, who will come and sit on your chest one day while you're
>not looking. You can struggle and yell all you want, but nothing
>will get him to move. Remember, this is a BIG DOG."

This is probably a stupid thing to say on my part -- though it certainly
wouldn't be the first time -- but I don't believe in writer's block. When a
person says they have writer's block, what it invariably means, in my
experience, is:

1) they're just plain tired of writing and need a reason to stop for a while
instead of admitting they're bushed, which is a perfectly reasonable
justification...

2) they're afraid that they won't ge able to top or equal their previous
work...

3) there's something else going on in their lives that needs addressing.

I've been writing nonstop since I was 17, which puts me at about 28 years, day
in and day out, 7 days a week. I've never had writer's block. If I ever *did*
get it, I have enough notes on other projects -- books, TV shows, movies,
plays, whatever -- to sustain me for the next 20 years.

So no, I don't believe in writer's block. I *do* believe that writers who feel
that they have writer's block need to look at what else in their lives is
blocking ujp the river. The river flows all the time; we just need to get out
of the way from time to time or it gets muddied up.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)