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Subject: Re: Attn: JMS Adding novel outlines to the 15th script volume.
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 07:15:09 +0000 (UTC)
From: jmsatb5@aol.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated

Phil M wrote:
> >There's the part
> > where you see Mozart composing, and it's all just *there*...he's
> > writing, and it's playing in his head...he gets interrupted, he looks
> > up, the music stops, he talks to someone, then goes back to it...and
> > the music just starts playing again, every note in place.
>
> Neat.  So if you were interrupted during the writing (bathroom, food,
> cats, Martian invasion, etc etc etc)  you didn't loose anything?  If I
> get interrupted writing a grocery list we end up not having milk that
> week because that's how my brain works.  The more I stop in the middle
> of something (like writing this email!) the more I loose.
>
> Okay, this technique works for scripts, is there any variation when
> your doing short stories, novels or music or is it the same for
> everything that you create?
>
> Anyone ever tell you, "too many words?"     ; - )
>

The closest I ever came to this...see, in scriptwriting these days,
where no one is supposed to have any remaining attention span, blocks
of dialogue are much to be avoided.  Just a couple of sentences per
character and move on.  Me, I like monologues.  Always have.  I like
letting the character build up a nice head of steam and rampage toward
a conclusion.  Some don't like to do that.  Different strokes, etc.
You're supposed to look at the page and if you see a big block of
dialogue, get rid of it.

So when I was working with Chris Carter on "The World on Fire," and
turned in my first draft, we had a script meeting.  One of the first
things Chris said/did was...he looked at the script, looked at me, held
his index and thumb about three inches apart, and said, "Does that
really work for you?"

I said, "Chris, c'mon, you use what you're born with and make the best
of it."

We never discussed it again.

jms