Creator Spotlight of a different kind
Not an original interview but a couple of recommendations
Greetings. I don’t have an original interview for you this week but I do have a recommendation for you if you’re looking for some kind of creative inspiration or insights into the working creator’s life.
J. Michael Straczynski (often referred to as JMS) is the creator and showrunner for two highly regarded science fiction TV series: Babylon 5 and Sense8, among others. He has had a long career writing and producing television shows as well as writing comic book series like Superman, Thor and Spider-Man as well as his own original works. His screenplay for the movie Changeling was nominated for a BAFTA award and the film itself was nominated for multiple BAFTA and Academy awards.
I want to recommend two recent books by JMS:
Becoming Superman
Becoming Superman is JMS’s autobiography, published in 2019. Much of the book is disturbing: JMS’s account of his life is sad and harrowing in many places. However, you do get a sense of his grit and determination to become a writer and you get a sense of the highs and lows of his career. He is most commonly remembered as the creator and show runner of Babylon 5, which was a forerunner of modern television story telling by presenting the entire series as one long tale told over multiple seasons instead of being a series of loosely connected episodes which didn’t deviate much from a status quo (the latter was the long time formula for TV shows like the original Star Trek TV series, where each story started and ended in the same episode with relatively little effect on the status quo of the series).
The most valuable lessons from this book are about how to stay true to yourself and to stay a vital creative force for the long term. You’ll read about his personal and professional ups and downs and how he overcame them.
Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer
The second book is a collection of advice and suggestions for writers. JMS is able to provide practical advice from his own experience. The second part of the book, Staying a Writer, is a bit different from most writing advice: it focuses on how to keep going and keep writing over the long term. You’ll definitely see a few nuggets here that you won’t see elsewhere.
I consider them both worth checking out even if you aren’t that interested in science fiction specifically.
Over to you: do you have any recommendations of books, videos, etc. about being a creator (writer/artist/etc.)?
Both books sound fascinating- will check them out! As for a recommendation, it’s one that comes up often - but that’s because it’s excellent: Stephen King’s ON WRITING. Highly recommended!
I really enjoyed two: “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life” by George Saunders, and “Creative Quest” by Questlove.
Saunders weaves lessons about writing before and after short stories by djfferent Russian masters, so you get both works of fiction and advice on writing narrative.
Questlove explores the creative process, and provides summaries of lessons he’s learned from other creators. Found it very insightful into curating a creative space.