TheBridge

JUDE LAW CAME UP WITH THE SHANTY!!!!!!! SLAY KING!

HOWARD: “Tak Rennod soared, away, away…” It was just supposed to be a poem, and Jude came in and he was like, “What do you think if I sang it? If it was a shanty? Because that's kind of what pirates do, and that's how the lore carries on.” We were like, “Yes, please. We would like that very much, Jude Law.” [Laughs]

The arcs! The arcs!!!! The character work was so well done!

•Wim wanting adventure and no one else wanting it, and then they learn the goodness of the outside world and he discovers the goodness of home as well. Home IS the treasure world all the pirates want to get to! Because it’s something they didn’t get! And he helps KB and she says bet you thought it’d be more exciting, saving someone’s life? And in the end his dad’s boring job is exciting and saves everyone!

•Wim trusting people because they seem friendly and him being the one able to figure out who the good and bad guys are and warn his dad who believes Jod just like he did, and figuring out who he wants to join in the end (the people that help other people!) BUT being someone who saves other people also means recognizing WHO needs saving, and he’s the one that gets to humanize Jod a little bit in the end

•Wim’s dad starts with aren’t you too old for bedtime stories (growing up=getting boring) and he has a whole arc of acting childish and then childlike, and having to realize there’s more of the story in the world than he thought, and he GETS to realize that! Because all the was keeping him from believing it was the idea that it wasn’t that way.

•Fern and the tower! She lives at the top of the hill and her mom is anxious to keep her safe up there because there’s not room for everyone at the top. But she goes out and learns that being on top is a responsibility, that being a leader and a captain means looking at the people around you and seeing what they are good at and helping them do that! And she also sees the outside world her mom’s afraid of also has good people who will help you in it. The very first thing when she steps into the pirate world a lady they don’t know pulls them aside to help them! And so with her and her mom in the actual tower she’s able to convince her mom to bring the barrier down that separates them from the outside world. It was keeping them safe but it was also shutting out the good!

•Neel teaches the warrior girl the value of a peaceful life. Kindness isn’t weak! Saying sorry isn’t weak! It’s the way you actually resolve things and *live*. He changes that planet. But he also learns from her! Neel who’s kind partially because he’s scared of everything ends by saying we almost died like every day but it was fun! That’s how you know it was a real adventure! And he saves his friend with the actual knowledge Hana the warrior girl gave him—the big gun on top of the school. (Think it’s insanely fitting that Neel who aced his school exams at the beginning gets to defend everyone with the weapon of the school. Again! The boring ordinary takes on new life and power! The goodness of the ordinary! It’s actually exciting! But it does have to transform to be. It has to be part of something bigger!)

•KB is the brains! Jod says trust your gut but Khym the owl lady says think! Use your head! And she learns on the hotel planet with Wim that what she needs is to communicate! And she’s the one that sends the message!

•Jod!!! He gets to be an antagonist and he’s scary not because he’s a grown up but because he can’t grow up!! His nemeses aren’t the adults it’s the KIDS because that’s the level he’s on. He’s Emma Swan!! He’s stuck in the idea that the world is awful and no one’s coming to save anyone so you just have to fend for yourself and take what you can get (pirate worldview), until!!! That literally crashes and burns in front of him! Because someone DID show up to save them! His whole world crumbles!! Who knows!! He can start again!

*thinks up an idea for a silly quick piece* okay haha let's whip something up real quick

*idea gets more complicated*

*idea gets more complicated*

*idea gets more complicated*

*idea gets more complicated*

oh no

The stained glass at the Elizabethan House Museum, 4 South Quay, Great Yarmouth, 17th - early 18th century - Photo by David King

I hate I when I get an idea for a novel. Like oh no here starts the slow sad slip n’ slide to dissapointment again.

You ever been 30,000 words and hundreds of research hours into a project when you realize hey wait a minute. I don’t like this. This is bad.

Ok adding to this though that even though it is extremely relatable, this is a KNOWN thing with professional writing. 10k is often referred to as "having a pot boiling" or "having a stew" - it's the point where you often see an idea coming together and it's exciting! But THEN... 30k-50k is the point where that fun has to start coming together. In theatre, it's usually week 3 of a 5 week rehearsal period where you have to stop talking about the play and really get it all up on its feet and cohesive. In art, it's committing to what are going to be the final visible layers of colour and texture, in sculpture the moment where you're truly at the point of no return with carving out the shape.

It usually feels really bad. Because this is the point it becomes real craft. It's so, so difficult to really be able to identify if it's truly not going to be anything or you're just in the hardest part of the process, and really the only way to know is to... write through it. Write it badly. Or, if you really can't, put it in a drawer and come back to it after a few months of breathing space. Remember, you can fix so much in the edit, but you can't fix nothing!

(I say, fully looking at my latest draft of my book and considering throwing it in the bin. But my editor said exactly this to me, so I'm passing it along.)

Yeah, I've written about 23 books by now and this is something that always happens. If it was fun all the time, there would be a lot more novelists. The people who finish books are the people who carry on even after it stops being fun. It often becomes fun again later, or at least satisfying. It sucking is just part of the process. Press on!

The Valley of the Ghosts (Kutkhiny Baty) on Kunashir Island, Russia. The soft volcanic ash has been sculpted over centuries by wind and rain

This is stunning. And I ADORE tumblr for somehow placing a real location here that looks EXACTLY how I pictured a scene in my WIP

okay the internet has made me way too angry today reblog this post and say something lovely and wholesome in the tags please

writing dialogue is just advanced theater where you play every role and silently judge yourself as the audience.

Becoming a writer is great because now you have a hobby that haunts you whenever you don’t have time to do it