When writers don't know what to do with a character, they build up the supporting cast and universe to kind of hide that fact. After a while, you can no longer see the character for the underbrush. When that happens, you need to bring out the weed-whacker to clear some of that away so you can focus on the main character.
J. Michael StraczynskiA lot of television tends to assume that audiences don't have the attention span or the IQ to follow a lot of stuff.
J. Michael StraczynskiMy philosophy: find what it is you want to say, walk in the room, say it, and get the hell out.
J. Michael StraczynskiWhen the Seinfeld show said it was going to be a show about nothing, everybody said it couldn't - wouldn't work. It did. Thor is about something, about that character finding his destiny, but it's not doing what was expected... and yet it's doing very well.
J. Michael StraczynskiIf thereโs any other message in this to readers, itโs in these two characters as icons of hope, that it doesnโt make any difference where you come from, or where you went to school, or who you are, thereโs hope. That a kid from Jersey with Superman as the icon that kept him alive for years would one day end up writing the character is as absoutely unlikely as it is utterly inevitable. And if thatโs true for me, itโs true for you, if you follow your dreams and your passions in full flight. Donโt give up. No Limits. Itโs never too late to learn to fly.
J. Michael StraczynskiThe point of mythology or myth is to point to the horizon and to point back to ourselves: This is who we are; this is where we came from; and this is where we're going. And a lot of Western society over the last hundred years - the last 50 years really - has lost that. We have become rather aimless and wandering.
J. Michael Straczynski