Avast, me hearties! We be in fer a great, grand treat!
The buxomest beauty to sail the seven seas be weighin' anchor with us today!
Please make welcome DANIELLE THORN!!!
Put down yer tea and belly up fer some grog fer we be goin' on account with Danielle. So, yo-ho-ho and away we go!!
After Labor Day, I have a one track mind: Pirates.
That's because Halloween is right around the corner and on that holiday, my neighborhood turns into a swashbuckling scene of life size pirate ships and cemeteries. Our autumns are filled with costumes and cannons and reliving the glory days of Jack Sparrow. I have interesting neighbors, to say the least. It's made for interesting writing.
Every girl hearts a pirate. I've loved them since I was a child, when Peter Pan took me off to Never Never Land. Next came those cheesy eighties flicks with singing and bad dancing. Then I discovered paperback novels. For a beach lover like myself and many others, pirates and romance go hand in hand.
The word “pirate” conjures up images of exotic swashbuckling sailors who can swing a cutlass with one hand and a bottle of rum with the other. But, just when did pirates first morph from bloodthirsty criminals into romantic heroes?
Errol Flynn brought the idea to the silver screen in 1935 with Captain Blood, exchanging Long John Silver’s wicked image for a Robin Hood of the sea.
Fast forward a hundred years past J. M. Barrie’s not so delectable Captain Hook, and we find Johnny Depp charming audience’s world wide with his crazy-as-a-fox rendition of the forgivable and fetching Captain Jack Sparrow. It was not the stereotypical orientation romance novels have been churning out since Harlequin became a household name, yet the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy resurrected our fascination with those long ago rebels of the Age of Sail.
So what is it about pirates that makes a girl go weak in the knees? Is it our nurturing desire to find good in everyone? The hunger for adventure? Or, the bad boy archetype every woman wants to tame?
I’m going to go with C. Pirates were at the core, thieves and murders. They smelled. They carried diseases (like syphilis.). They dressed in whatever they could find, which on some occasions could be quite comical if they took the right ship. They were rarely any more loyal to each other then they were to themselves.
Perhaps it is the female persuasion that begs the questions: Were they all murderers? Didn’t everyone smell? Couldn’t some be found with a smidge of loyalty below their adventurous surfaces? There had to be. And that's why we daydream. That's why we love to read about them.
In my historical novel, THE PRIVATEER, I took advantage of Governor Woodes Rogers pardon, issued in 1718. This Bahamas governor offered a pardon to all those engaged in piracy if they would cease and desist. My hero, Julius Bertrand, forced into piracy at a young age, accepts the pardon and uses his swashbuckling experience to make a deal with the Crown. Bertrand secretly privateers and reports to his trusted friend, Captain Adair, of HMS Indemnity.
What makes Bertrand a captivating personality, in my opinion, is not just his lost soul aura, but that he is ambitious. This ambition becomes a flaw, and it is this flaw that nearly costs him his life and his heart. A man overcoming his flaws is alluring. Especially when he learns and grows as a person, and does all of it for a woman (which Bertrand does). Okay, I admit, he is mysterious, dark, handsome, and I imagine, smelled delicious, but permit me artistic license.
It is a never-ending occupation, piracy. Even in today’s modern world, we hear reports of these sea-roving criminals engaging in unthinkable acts. There is no romance in the reality, and I believe that’s what makes historic fiction so inviting. We can step back to a time when men were definitely men, and only the strong and crafty survived. Through a good pirating yarn we can find the Caribbean’s lost boys, almost always sincere, pliable, and underneath all the brine, waiting for us with hearts of gold.
~Danielle Thorne
About Danielle:
Danielle Thorne has published poetry, short fiction and novels. She is the author of sweet romantic adventure books, both historical and contemporary. Her first young adult paranormal debuts February 2012. Danielle currently writes from south of Atlanta, Georgia. She was the 2009-2010 Co-Chair for the New Voices Competition for young writers, is active with online author groups and moderates for The Sweetest Romance Authors at the Coffee Time Romance boards and Goodreads. Besides contract editing and writing full time, Danielle has four sons with her husband, Rob. Together they enjoy traveling the Caribbean and hanging out as a family.
Author’s Website: www.daniellethorne.com
Author’s Blog: www.thebalancedwriter.blogspot.com
Thank you, Danielle, for hanging out at TLN today! We wish you all the best with your new release. Here's hoping you score some real pieces o' eight! ;)
THANK YOU, TLN'ers!! Hope your week was strife-free. I know I'm glad the weekend is nigh! Good grief have I got some writing to do. How about you? Any plans to brag about? Take care and we'll see you back next week!
The buxomest beauty to sail the seven seas be weighin' anchor with us today!
Please make welcome DANIELLE THORN!!!
Put down yer tea and belly up fer some grog fer we be goin' on account with Danielle. So, yo-ho-ho and away we go!!
After Labor Day, I have a one track mind: Pirates.
That's because Halloween is right around the corner and on that holiday, my neighborhood turns into a swashbuckling scene of life size pirate ships and cemeteries. Our autumns are filled with costumes and cannons and reliving the glory days of Jack Sparrow. I have interesting neighbors, to say the least. It's made for interesting writing.
Every girl hearts a pirate. I've loved them since I was a child, when Peter Pan took me off to Never Never Land. Next came those cheesy eighties flicks with singing and bad dancing. Then I discovered paperback novels. For a beach lover like myself and many others, pirates and romance go hand in hand.
The word “pirate” conjures up images of exotic swashbuckling sailors who can swing a cutlass with one hand and a bottle of rum with the other. But, just when did pirates first morph from bloodthirsty criminals into romantic heroes?
Errol Flynn brought the idea to the silver screen in 1935 with Captain Blood, exchanging Long John Silver’s wicked image for a Robin Hood of the sea.
Fast forward a hundred years past J. M. Barrie’s not so delectable Captain Hook, and we find Johnny Depp charming audience’s world wide with his crazy-as-a-fox rendition of the forgivable and fetching Captain Jack Sparrow. It was not the stereotypical orientation romance novels have been churning out since Harlequin became a household name, yet the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy resurrected our fascination with those long ago rebels of the Age of Sail.
So what is it about pirates that makes a girl go weak in the knees? Is it our nurturing desire to find good in everyone? The hunger for adventure? Or, the bad boy archetype every woman wants to tame?
I’m going to go with C. Pirates were at the core, thieves and murders. They smelled. They carried diseases (like syphilis.). They dressed in whatever they could find, which on some occasions could be quite comical if they took the right ship. They were rarely any more loyal to each other then they were to themselves.
Perhaps it is the female persuasion that begs the questions: Were they all murderers? Didn’t everyone smell? Couldn’t some be found with a smidge of loyalty below their adventurous surfaces? There had to be. And that's why we daydream. That's why we love to read about them.
In my historical novel, THE PRIVATEER, I took advantage of Governor Woodes Rogers pardon, issued in 1718. This Bahamas governor offered a pardon to all those engaged in piracy if they would cease and desist. My hero, Julius Bertrand, forced into piracy at a young age, accepts the pardon and uses his swashbuckling experience to make a deal with the Crown. Bertrand secretly privateers and reports to his trusted friend, Captain Adair, of HMS Indemnity.
What makes Bertrand a captivating personality, in my opinion, is not just his lost soul aura, but that he is ambitious. This ambition becomes a flaw, and it is this flaw that nearly costs him his life and his heart. A man overcoming his flaws is alluring. Especially when he learns and grows as a person, and does all of it for a woman (which Bertrand does). Okay, I admit, he is mysterious, dark, handsome, and I imagine, smelled delicious, but permit me artistic license.
It is a never-ending occupation, piracy. Even in today’s modern world, we hear reports of these sea-roving criminals engaging in unthinkable acts. There is no romance in the reality, and I believe that’s what makes historic fiction so inviting. We can step back to a time when men were definitely men, and only the strong and crafty survived. Through a good pirating yarn we can find the Caribbean’s lost boys, almost always sincere, pliable, and underneath all the brine, waiting for us with hearts of gold.
~Danielle Thorne
About Danielle:
Danielle Thorne has published poetry, short fiction and novels. She is the author of sweet romantic adventure books, both historical and contemporary. Her first young adult paranormal debuts February 2012. Danielle currently writes from south of Atlanta, Georgia. She was the 2009-2010 Co-Chair for the New Voices Competition for young writers, is active with online author groups and moderates for The Sweetest Romance Authors at the Coffee Time Romance boards and Goodreads. Besides contract editing and writing full time, Danielle has four sons with her husband, Rob. Together they enjoy traveling the Caribbean and hanging out as a family.
Author’s Website: www.daniellethorne.com
Author’s Blog: www.thebalancedwriter.blogspot.com
Thank you, Danielle, for hanging out at TLN today! We wish you all the best with your new release. Here's hoping you score some real pieces o' eight! ;)
THANK YOU, TLN'ers!! Hope your week was strife-free. I know I'm glad the weekend is nigh! Good grief have I got some writing to do. How about you? Any plans to brag about? Take care and we'll see you back next week!
