Sailing with Sir Francis Drake

Welcome, Skirmishers!

It’s March 3, otherwise known as the February 31. I’ve spent the past month sailing round the world and breathing sea air alongside everyone’s favorite gentleman-pirate, Sir Francis Drake. He had an hour glass with which to keep track of time. Maybe I should get one. I may not be ready to send a timely Skirmish, but I’m definitely ready to face the Spanish Armada.

For a writing update (and tips), movie recommendations, and more, read on!

In this Skirmish

✍️ Writing Update: Trusting the Donegality (and Writing Boys)

🍿 What I’m Watching: Nürnberg, Beast Games, and more

📚 What I’m Reading: Gallivanting round the world with Sir Francis and Jack Aubrey

Writing Update: Trusting the Donegality (and Writing Boys)

Last Skirmish, I was diving into Revision #5 for my tropical Orpheus MG novel, a risky expedition given I still hadn’t received feedback from my editor at Canon Press. Well, that stayed risky for about 24 hours, because…I finally received feedback from my editor at Canon Press. Which only made things a whole lot riskier as I dive into Revision #6.

Because now I’m changing everything.

It was one of those helpful editorial meetings where the main takeaways were: “This is fun, just change the world-building and your hero’s motivations.”

Great! Absolutely. On it.

Except, when I pulled on that string, everything unraveled.

Turns out, my world-building (my first attempt at fantasy) was all over the place. Too many flavors. Too many moods. Too many elements. Not surprising; I’m a chef who likes to triple my spices.

And my hero (my second attempt at writing a male protagonist) wasn’t working either—a potential nail in the coffin for this project, because if I can’t write a male convincingly, I won’t write a male at all. I loathe reading about boys who feel like girls, and I don’t intend to add to that collection.

Solutions:

1) To fix the world-building, I’m focusing on the donegality I liked most from the current draft: that swashbuckling, Elizabethan air. Ships, sea battles, derring do, tropical beaches, and rumors of treasure galore. I didn’t mean to, but as soon as I decided to run in this direction, I discovered I was ditching the high fantasy world and setting my story in actual Elizabethan times, with the Spanish invasion imminent. (That’s what I mean by everything unraveling.)

Will I attempt high fantasy again in another book? Probably. But for now, I’m cutting with the grain, leaning into my strengths: creating a world that feels real because absolutely everything is based on—or inspired by—fact, in one coherent unit. This book is already harder than Forbidden Child thanks to the larger cast, vast setting, longer timeline, and male protagonist. I don’t need to make it even harder by inventing my own universe. (Three things at a time, Gwen, not four.)

Tip: Whether high fantasy, low fantasy, or real-world, pick one donegality and stick with it. What’s the prevailing mood of your book? Can you create a Pinterest board based on that mood? Does that Pinterest board wind up including all your favorite vibes from everywhere? If so, that’s too much. Concentrate the mood. Go all in on that.

2) To fix my main character, I’m enrolling myself as a student in Boys From Other Books 101. Specifically, books written by males. To write about ships, I study ships, so to write about boys, I study boys. Treasure Island. Hatchet. Mort. Nation. Leepike Ridge. 100 Cupboards. You name it, I’m reading it.

I’ve changed my hero’s motivation to primal father-hunger—a motivation that appears in a number of the books above, so I’ve got ample how-to’s. And I’m making a case study out of how each male author portrays his boy hero. How often are they in the boys’ heads? How and when do the boys process their feelings? How do they relate to other people? I’m analyzing technique the same way I analyze metaphors and dialogue. Other elements of writing, I can wing it and write by ear. Not so with writing boys. This is like practicing scales on the piano. It’s as technical as it gets. Wish me luck!

Tip: Write what you know. If you don’t know it, figure it out. If you can’t figure it out, pivot.

I’ve given myself one last attempt at making this story work. My plan is to research and write 3 to 5 chapters (getting through Act I) and then bounce them off my editor to see if the story’s working. If it isn’t…I shall table it until Cedar is 12 and I (hopefully) understand boys better.

What I’m Watching

Beast Games Season 2 - My husband and I adore watching wildly different personalities compete for $5 million dollars. It’s like the Hunger Games, but richer and less bloody. How far will you go to take home the prize? Will you lie, cheat, and backstab? Will you throw yourself on a grenade (that’s a metaphor) so others can get ahead? Watch Beast Games and find out. We’re sad season 2 is over. It had some wild twists and turns, complete with a love story, a villain arc, and absolutely wild manipulation. (My husband couldn’t stand Monica.)

Ballad of Wallis Island - Slow, simple, bittersweet little indie film with a surprising ending. If quirky characters with guitars on a lonely British island are your thing, give it a try.

Nürnberg (I can’t say Nuremberg) - Best movie I’ve seen in a long time. Very well written, with some brilliant verbal fencing between Hermann Göring (Russel Crowe) and the psychiatrist sent to evaluate him (played by the twitchy Rami Malek). Russel Crowe is one of those rare actors who can portray both hero and villain with equal skill. As the fat, intelligent, arrogant, prim, bloodthirsty, hypnotic, manipulative, Hitler-obsessed, narcissist Göring, Crowe is absolutely mesmerizing.

What I’m Reading

Wee Free Men - Finally finished what has to be the most mediocre Terry Pratchett I’ve read so far. I very much liked what Pratchett set out to do (you live in a fantasy world—just open your eyes!), I just don’t think he did it very well. A rare miss. The ingredients were fun but I found them incoherent. Too much promised (at weird intervals), too little delivered (at even weirder intervals), with a dream-like Act II that carried on forever. If you love Tiffany Aching, do let me know if the sequels are any better!

100 Cupboards - I reread ND Wilson’s low-fantasy trilogy for the first time in 16 years. Oh my word. It’s just the best. Motherhood must have softened me because I wanted to cry at the end when sons find fathers, heroes find wives, and wanderers find homes. So so good.

Master & Commander - I’m halfway through Book 1 and loving it. True, it’s set 200+ years after my WIP, but the ship lingo and ocean mood are both helpful as I immerse myself in the sailing life of yesteryear. I love how Patrick O’Brian reveals his two main characters (Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin) through their dialogue, with minimal authorial commentary. Aubrey is energetic, impulsive, brash, and tends to put his foot in his mouth. Dr. Maturin is quiet, milder, philosophical, and between the two of them is bound to be the one to get his feelings hurt more often. They make a great duo.

In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire by Laurence Bergreen - Read this one for obvious reasons. This would-be impressive book is thoroughly researched, but quite unprofessionally edited. Bergreen over relies on massive quotes from primary sources to convey crucial information instead of relaying and shaping the narrative himself. He also repeats himself endlessly, circling back over and over the same material (how many times was Drake’s treasure deposited in the Tower of London? How many times was the Spanish Armada lost along the coast of Ireland?). And the last chapter cuts off like an unfinished blog post instead of wrapping things up (and justifying the book’s ambitious title).

I appreciate being less in the dark on these fascinating adventures than I was before, but I’ll be pursuing other books on the subject in search of the ultimate cohesive account of Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada. If I find it, I’ll let you know.

Leadership and Emotional Sabotage by Joe Rigney - Nonfiction, obviously. This slim book is absolutely essential for everybody—whether you’re the problem or the solution. Read before family vacations, holiday reunions, and stressful work meetings. (Also great inspiration for creating manipulative, emotionally immature characters. They make great villains, honestly.)

That’s all for now! See you on March 35, at this rate.

Cheers,
Gwen