Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Yoho, Yoho! A Writer's Life for Me!


Only seventeen more days till the premiere of POTC - At World's End. Yesterday I found a truly wonderful picture of Captain Jack Sparrow to use for my computer wallpaper. Wait a second - sigh - I just had to minimize this window so I could look at it.

I am struck by the similarities between the life of a writer and the life of a pirate. For one thing, there's a lot of alcohol involved (See Hemingway, Ernest). But that's just a small part of it. A pirate sets out for adventure on the high seas. A writer sets out for adventure in the sea of his or her own imagination. A pirate will burst into your life and steal everything valuable from your gold doubloons to your daughters. Writers also burst into your life, and the things we steal are valuable - your emotions, your thoughts, your attention.

I was thinking about the reasons for my fascination with Pirates of the Caribbean. And no, it's not Johnny Depp. Well, not entirely Johnny Depp. It's also Orlando Bloom. But wait - it's so much more than that. I first went to Disneyland in 1970. POTC was my hands-down favorite attraction. For one thing, it's the last ride in which Walt was personally involved. At it's time, there was no other attraction so technologically sophisticated. When you step into that boat and begin your journey through the ship battle, past the marauding pirates, through the ransacked village, you can absolutely believe you are really there.

Much like what a writer can do for you.

There isn't a fiction writer living who hasn't watched the movie and thought - I wish I had written that! Adventure, romance, danger, comedy ("Captain! It's Captain Jack Sparrow!"), mystery. It's exactly the kind of thing we're all hoping to acheive when we invite you into the world we've created to share some of your day with us.

One more thing I love about Captain Jack Sparrow - the sounds. The creak of leather, the clang of chains, the rattle of keys and bones, the thunk of thick boots on hard planks.

Arg! Now I'm off to plunder and loot something!

Have a great day,
Delia
aka Captain Bess Bonney
www.piratequiz.com

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