Thursday, August 20, 2015

Figment News


   Well, I did it. This morning I finally posted a short story on Figment. It’s FAR from perfect, but if I’d tried for another draft it would never have seen the light of day. It’s called A Lady Strong and Bold, and it’s about pirates. (Or, more specifically, a girl who disguises herself as a boy and accidentally joins a pirate crew—terrifically original, I know :)) It’s also different from my other stories in a couple of ways.

   First (and foremost), it’s co-written. My sister, Claudia, wrote the original draft a few years ago, but it never really clicked for her (even though I adored it) so she abandoned it. I’ve always loved pirates, and a few months ago she told me I could rewrite the story if I wanted to. I just got around to it this week, and even though I changed names and personalities and fleshed out the plot, I kept a lot of Claudia’s work, especially her wonderful dialogue. It was absolutely a collaboration.

   A Lady Strong and Bold is also much more lighthearted and character-focused (I hope) than my published stories. We wanted it to be fun and even a bit fantastical, so it’s not particularly historically accurate. The main characters are Margaret McCreary, who longs to escape from her social-climbing aunt and sail to Jamaica, and Bartholomew Swill, a “most singular gentleman” and pirate captain. They were a TON of fun to write together, and I’d love to write some sequel stories—maybe even a series of short stories—featuring them. In the meantime, you can read the first story here


   And here’s a playlist of some of the music I listened to while working on/thinking about it. Not all of the songs directly inspired this story, but they all helped me focus on a nautical/piratey mood. 

2 comments:

  1. So I was too lazy to log in to my Figment account to comment there, but let me just say I love love love the voice. I mean I can't verbalise exactly why I love it, but it compels. I could not stop reading. Definitely very character-focused -- it has the vibe of classical works, if you know what I mean? SO YAY. GO YOU. WRITE ALL THE WORDS.

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    1. Thanks!!! I'm glad you liked it!
      Most of the credit for the voice goes to Claudia--her draft really did set the tone. I've also been devouring the Bloody Jack series, which is set (roughly) around the same time and has a main character with a very distinctive voice, so I think that helped. Thanks for commenting; I'm so glad to see that someone enjoyed it!

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