JMS Writing Archetypes

[SmileOfTheShadow]

What are some of the recurring items you've seen JMS use in his various writings? I'll start us off with a couple I see off the top of my head.

Cocooons. Delenn undergoes transformation in a cocoon in Chrysalis, as does Peter Parker in "The Other."

"Ezekiel". Ezekiel's a mysterious bad dude in Jeremiah, and the name of the guy who helps spidey through his totem storyline.

Mysterious dudes with very common names. Re: Script books - Mr. Jones for B5, never got made. Morphed into Mr. Smith for Jeremiah.

And of course, the initials "J.S." Jeffrey Sinclair. John Sheridan. John Simon in Rising Stars. Did Jeremiah's last name fit into this? I can't remember.

[Lunan]

What are some of the recurring items you've seen JMS use in his various writings? I'll start us off with a couple I see off the top of my head.

Cocooons. Delenn undergoes transformation in a cocoon in Chrysalis, as does Peter Parker in "The Other."

"Ezekiel". Ezekiel's a mysterious bad dude in Jeremiah, and the name of the guy who helps spidey through his totem storyline.

Mysterious dudes with very common names. Re: Script books - Mr. Jones for B5, never got made. Morphed into Mr. Smith for Jeremiah.

And of course, the initials "J.S." Jeffrey Sinclair. John Sheridan. John Simon in Rising Stars. Did Jeremiah's last name fit into this? I can't remember.

the charismatic leader who at first is not univerally liked
the love intrest (ok its happens in just about all writing)
a tendency to have over arching ideas with little internal stories that add to the big picture

[Jan]

Mysterious dudes with very common names. Re: Script books - Mr. Jones for B5, never got made. Morphed into Mr. Smith for Jeremiah.

Don't forget Mr. Jones on Crusade.

Other names JMS likes to use: David, Elizabeth/Liz

And of course, the initials "J.S." Jeffrey Sinclair. John Sheridan. John Simon in Rising Stars. Did Jeremiah's last name fit into this? I can't remember.

I've always wondered. JMS seemed to go to great lengths to *not* give Jeremiah a last name which made it awkward when they were talking about Jeremiah's dad sometimes.

Concepts that JMS likes to repeat: We all know about the 'actions have consequences' and 'one person *can* make a difference. But did you know that 'we must be [I]kind[I] to one another appeared way back in a Twilight Zone episode?

Jan

[raw_bean]

A rather shallow one (I blame the beers I just had), but let's not miss out the use of the term 'associates'.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Don't forget Mr. Jones on Crusade.

I'll confess I've only watched crusade once, and a long time ago. I really couldn't get into it, and I'm scared to watch it again.

Concepts that JMS likes to repeat: We all know about the 'actions have consequences' and 'one person *can* make a difference. But did you know that 'we must be [I]kind[I] to one another appeared way back in a Twilight Zone episode?

And..I still have to watch that. I *have* those dvds though.

As far as shallow ones, don't be afraid of shallow ones. We're talking about repetitive names, and it is funny that he uses the term "associates" quite a bit. Everyone's got their favorite words I guess. I like these sort of things because you can really point to something and say "Well that's JMS' writing!"