The year is 1715. You’ve struggled to find work for two years, ever since the war ended and the navy no longer needed your services. You’re far from home and can’t get there because no coins fill your pockets and too many seek the same job openings on merchant ships. You’re hungry. You’re desperate. What do you do?
- Find another line of work.
- Beg
- Give up on life.
- Turn to piracy.
Such was a sailor’s plight in the early eighteenth century following the Peace of Utrecht. When Queen Anne’s War ended, the British Royal Navy downsized dramatically and it became illegal to privateer. Those easy pickings that had put gold in your pocket were gone. The only way to get ahead in life was to return to hard work, long hours at sea, away from family and with little prospect of getting ahead.
You’re on the cusp, uncertain whether to choose option d or not. Then a ship arrives with news of a shipwreck. Not just a single vessel, but eleven in all. Nor are they common merchantmen laden with everyday goods. Oh no! This convoy carried treasure worth 7,000,000 pieces of eight – and it is now free for the taking. If you have a ship. If you are willing to risk your life diving in shark-infested waters. If you don’t mind dealing with pesky Spaniards seeking to recover their lost treasure or the hundreds of others who also want a share of quick riches.
Thus began what became the greatest upsurge in piracy in history. The Caribbean and North Atlantic coast became the pirates’ primary hunting grounds, although they also ventured to Africa’s west coast and even the Indian Ocean. For a single decade these men, and some women, plagued the seas, terrorizing innocent people and becoming a blight on commerce. It gave rise to a Pirate Republic, located in the Bahamas.
No wonder writers choose to create stories based on this swashbuckling period. It’s rife with bad boys, romantic lassies, and dastardly villains. Regardless of genre, these tales allow readers to escape to another time, place, and reality. But there’s more to writing a fictional tale of pirates than just sitting down and creating. Whether set in a fantasy world where ships navigate the heavens or in a historic recreation where oceans of water are plied, authors seek an air of realism in the worlds they create. Nor does an author focus just on pirates. Such characters don’t work in a vacuum. They need friends and allies, as well as enemies and victims. In fiction, writers emphasize story over history, because the more realistic the portrayals, the more believable the characters and stories are to readers. Yet there are many myths, legends, and falsehoods out there about pirates. My workshop, Bringing Pirates to Life, strives to help writers create characters that fit within historical parameters while still living in a fictional world. If you have a pirate storyline simmering on a back burner or an avid interest in history’s bad boys and girls, I invite you to join me in August when we sail the Caribbean in search of Bringing Pirates to Life.
Book Blurb: A Tall Ship, a Star, and Plunder
Banned from his home after solving a wizard’s riddle, Rumble must live in the dangerous world of men. He forms an uneasy alliance with exiled Vikings t
o retrieve a sacred chalice stolen by their fiendish arch nemesis, Ivan Skullsplitter. “Rumble the Dragon” is one of twenty-four amazing tales of bravado, daring, and dastardly deeds committed by legendary pirates. Travel the High Seas and the far reaches of the galaxy in this collection of tales that explore the past, present, and future of our favorite scallywags. Good luck, and may the wind be in your favor, blowing you toward good pickings and a safe harbor.
Author Bio:
Cindy Vallar is the editor of Pirates and Privateers, which is in its twenty-third year of publication. A retired librarian, she is a freelance editor and historical novelist. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, National Association of Independent Writers and Editors, The Laffite Society, National Maritime Historical Society, U. S. Naval Institute, and Military Writers Society of America. Her historical fantasy, “Rumble the Dragon,” appears in the short story anthology A Tall Ship, a Star, and Plunder. She invites you to visit her award-winning web site, Thistles & Pirates (http://www.cindyvallar.com/), to learn more.
Don’t miss Cindy Vallar’s
On-line Workshop
BRINGING PIRATES TO LIFE
This 4 Week Course Starts August 1, 2022
Sponsored by FF&P
Find out more and register HERE
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