Roads Go Ever On 13: Let’s talk about Galaxy’s Edge
💻 what I'm up to 💻
Welcome, new subscribers! I’m glad you’re here. Thanks for coming to hang out. Normally I ramble quite a bit about life stuff here but today I’m going to ramble quite a bit about The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (arriving on April 27) instead. You keep secrets about working on these kinds of projects for so long that it feels wrong to talk about it, even when you’re finally allowed to. But I can! I am a free elf! Mostly!
As you might know, The Art of SWGE (an acronym I picked up when I worked at Disney’s Yellow Shoes) is a treasure trove of concept art for the theme park land. It includes absolutely hundreds of images by Walt Disney Imagineering and Lucasfilm artists. Doug Chiang told me they basically generated three feature films worth of content for Galaxy’s Edge. He’s just one of many, many folks I interviewed for this book. Like with many publishing projects, especially books involving licensed work like Star Wars, it’s a lot of “hey, we’re gonna do this…” but then you wait and then you need to hurry to turn things in. I know that’s how it goes though, so I’m generally ready to roll with it. I looked back at my calendar and I conducted my first batch of about 17 interviews in 7 days (the survival supplies photo above is from a particularly heavy interview day). Side note: bless my tremendous boss and co-workers at Nerdist for being cool with my dumb schedule on those days.
As you can imagine, it was a lot to absorb and to transcribe but everyone from Imagineering and Lucasfilm from Scott Trowbridge, to Margaret Kerrison, to Carrie Beck, to Doug Chiang were quite generous with their time and happy to dig back through their memories from years ago to tell me about coming up with the look for Batuu and Black Spire Outpost and all its many locations. Digging into origin stories was such a blast.
I started working on this book in earnest near the beginning of the pandemic. Nearly every interview was a video call. And the book came together in layers, beginning with general discussions about the chapters I’d outlined pegged to various aspects of Batuu. While I interviewed and transcribed and put together text, my tremendous editor at Abrams Books, Eric Klopfer wrangled a million things including the layout of the art. We had SO much to choose from thanks to WDI and Lucasfilm’s tremendous recordkeeping. A bounty! And eventually, once we had relatively final images in place, I conducted many more interviews to discuss specific pieces. (Thank you, screensharing abilities).
The process took months. Those layers are why it’s hard to answer a simple question like how long it took me to write the book. I can remember how long specific spurts lasted but to put them together and cut out my inactive time when sections were going through edits and approvals… like, honestly, who knows.
*this image is not in the book, to be clear
I’m grateful that I had the good fortune of going to Batuu several times before the pandemic and taking a million photos and spending time just standing in various spots and soaking in the atmosphere. Before Galaxy’s Edge opened at Disneyland, I spent a work week of 10-12 hour days there when I worked at Yellow Shoes. I did the same in Florida for 3 days before Galaxy’s Edge opened there. Batuu got into my bones and it’s never left. And thank goodness because I didn’t have the opportunity to visit while I was writing the book. I can’t wait to get a ronto wrap and hear the sounds of the market soon. Until then, til the spire!
📘 my book things 📘
The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge! Stay tuned to Nerdist early next week for the first exclusive peek at art from the book!! 👀
And hey, how about a giveaway for a signed copy of The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge that I’ll ship in May as soon as I get my copies! If you’re subscribed to this newsletter by 11:59pm ET on Friday, 4/15, you automatically get one (1) entry. Get bonus entries by: sharing this newsletter on Twitter and tagging me (@amy_geek) and/or forward this newsletter to a friend and reply to this newsletter with a screencap (you can black out your friend’s email address if you like) by 11:59pm ET on Friday 4/15. I will choose a winner on Sunday, 4/17 and contact you via email. I’ll share the first name of who won in my next newsletter.
A Kid’s Guide to Fandom! I am doing two virtual events for this book—one with WORD Bookstores and one with Wheatberry Books. Dates + times + info on signed copies soon!
📺 what I'm watching 📺
For All Mankind
Apparently 2021 is the year of catching up on Apple TV+ series I’ve been missing out on. For All Mankind is a Ron D. Moore show. It’s an alt-history about the space race in which the Russians got to the moon first and that pushed the United States to keep expanding the space program. They get flexibility from the alt-history route (lunar bases on the moon! Ted Kennedy as president!) but they also explore some tough issues rooted in that era. While I’d call the show optimistic overall, it starts getting so intense halfway through season one that we could only watch one episode at a time. Still! Highly recommend.
Shadow and Bone
I’ve gushed a lot about the Grishaverse in this newsletter and I want everyone to read Leigh Bardugo’s books. It’s been adapted into a series for Netflix and while I’m still under embargo about details I just want to say IT’S A QUALITY ADAPTATION. Ahem. The casting… *kisses fingers* SO. GOOD. It premieres on April 23.
📚 what I'm reading 📚
Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao
I sank into this story with the biggest happy sigh. I've been in a little bit of a reading slump and Rent a Boyfriend lifted me out. The story centers on Chloe Wang, who hires a fake boyfriend from a company who specializes in that to impress her parents. It's a lot about identity and Chloe's struggle to balance her parents' traditions with her life and there's also tons of smooching. It's just lovely.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
After OBSESSING over Circe, I was thrilled when my book club picked this for its next read. I’m about halfway through this tale focusing on Achilles and Patroclus and I am 100% in.
🐳 something whalesome 🐳
I like wholesome things and the whale emoji is cute so: whalesome!
My buddy Lee shared this gorgeous encouragement from Tabitha Brown, who is a goddamn ray of light none of us deserve, with me and I cried. It’s not too late.
🍃 creativity corner 🍃
Here I’ll share tips and tricks that are helping me write, imagine, and/or stay productive.
I’m taking a Christina Tosi baking class this month (a friend posted about it and I figured what the heck because while I rarely use recipes when I cook, I’m scared to experiment much with baking - so far it’s great!). Part of the class is teaching how to invent recipes and Christina talks a lot about “flavor story.” It’s about finding a flavor memory rooted in a time, place, or a particular food. You’re looking for a moment that resonates strongly, that makes you feel curious and excited about exploring. I’m using my moment to make a comic-con snacks inspired cookie, fyi. But my point in this area is that it’s a fabulous brainstorming tool for stories. Pick a time or place (food may not be super applicable here, but maybe!) and let your memories drift until they catch on something interesting.
📃 quote of the week 📃
“Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives—or to find strength in a very long one.” - V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Why do I read so much? I get that question sometimes and this is basically it. Books are a way to travel, to escape, to learn, to lean on.