Today’s blog is from a guest, Helen Hollick, whose novels range from
Arthurian Britain, via Saxon England, to sea adventures which she says are “not meant to be taken seriously”. Invariably
witty and entertaining, exuding energy and joie-de-vivre, Helen’s website and blog
are a source of delight (see links at end of article). Her “Sea Witch Voyages” series, set in the so-called Golden Age of
Piracy, are unique in the nautical fiction genre. I’m very grateful therefore that
she should contribute some entertaining musings on society’s continuing
fascination with pirates. Over to Helen…
SO WHY PIRATES? Helen Hollick
So why write about pirates? Why read about pirates? Even more
bizarre, why dress up as pirates?
What exactly is the exotic lure of pirates in the realm of entertainment?
Let’s be honest here, real pirates were not (are not!) nice people. The most active period of piracy is called
the ‘Golden Age’, a few short years in the early 1700s. What is
‘Golden’ about outright ruffians who steal things, frighten and
torture their victims? Who murder, destroy, blow things (and people) up?
Pirates were the terrorist hooligans of the eighteenth century – yet we love
novels and movies about them. We have pirate festivals and pirate fun days;
pirate costumes are among the highest choice for fancy-dress parties, there is
even an annual ‘Talk Like A Pirate Day’
every September 19th.
Why?
Very possibly three answers. Romanticism. Escapism. The thrill of
safe danger. Johnny Depp’s creation of Jack Sparrow (at least for the first
movie, the others were not so good) re-kindled that spark of interest in
nautical adventure where belief is suspended in favour of a darn good sailor’s
yarn. Safe escapism to that other world where bad things look like they happen,
but actually they don’t. It’s all enjoyable make-believe.
In reality there is nothing romantic about a ship being boarded by
dozens of drunken cut-throat louts bellowing at the top of their voices, ‘Death! Death! Death!’, all eager to
torture, rape, murder, plunder and loot, and then destroy the evidence by
setting the ship on fire.
But fictional pirates
are very different. They are rogues, yes; they would as soon cut your throat as
cut your money-pouch from your belt, but there is a rugged charm associated
with these scallywags. Pirate tales are a grand adventure romp, usually with
barely any historical accuracy whatsoever. You know that the hero will survive
the storm and subsequent shipwreck, recover from a near-fatal wound, dodge the
gallows, find the treasure and get the girl in the end. We all enjoy the
adventures of a loveable rogue because – well, he isn’t real. The danger
he gets into or creates makes our hearts race – the thrill of the chase or the
fight, the within-an-inch-of-his-life death-defying scenes. The ability to keep
on fighting/running/bedroom antics even though shot/wounded/kicked in an ‘ouch’
vulnerable place where real men would be curled up on the floor clutching their
nether regions, howling in agony. You know these heroes are in trouble. You also
know they are going to get out of it – the thrill, the excitement, is not
knowing how they do so.
The secret of a good pirate novel (or any novel come to that!) is
the pace, action, larger than life characters and how believable it all is. Even
fantasy has to be believable – which is one of the reasons Game Of Thrones is so successful. I was halfway through Series One
of GoT before I figured it was fantasy-based, not historical-adventure. (The
dragons gave it away, I guess.)
It is not just our thrill-seeking generation to be enamoured by
these bad-boy characters. Back in the eighteenth century the Big Entertainment (the
equivalent of going to a Celeb-packed Premier Opening Night) was the spectacle
of the Gallows. A good hanging drew the crowds, the more famous the criminal,
the bigger the audience. To some, the prospect of seeing a man hanged was the
highlight of the year. A hanging was a party atmosphere with pie-sellers and souvenirs.
Dancing, revelry, and then, Top of the Bill you get to see a man taking twenty
minutes or so to be strangled to death along with all the other unpleasantries
that happen to the slowly expiring body. That long drop with a short stop was
not in use in the early 1700s; to hang meant standing on a barrel, or cart,
which was rapidly removed leaving the poor soul to kick and squirm as the noose
around his (or her) neck choked him to
death. No quick broken-neck death. Captain Kidd, poor chap, was pushed off once
at the Gallows at Wapping, London – and the rope broke. They picked him up,
tied a new noose, stood him on the barrel, kicked it away… and the rope broke
again. Had it happened a third time he would have been set free. Alas for him,
someone obviously had the bright idea to get a different rope…
Another chap did survive, but I’m not sure it was a good thing. If
the corpse was not paid for and collected by relatives (who often grabbed hold
of the strangling body in the hope that the extra weight would kill quicker –
literally, ‘hangers on’) then it was sent to the local medical school for
dissection. This poor bloke was hanged, sent for dissection but was not
actually dead. He regained consciousness as he lay there, naked, on the table
about to be cut open!
Nope. Hanging? Not my type of entertainment. I’ll stick to drama
on TV thank you.
But that’s where the ‘safe danger’ comes into play isn’t it? A
hanging, or a horror movie, a murder-mystery or a thrills and spills adventure
where the ‘baddies’ get killed with no remorse from the one doing the killing –
usually the hero who ends up with the cute busty blonde - sets
our heart racing, our eyes popping, and in no danger whatsoever apart from a
nightmare or two.
My pirate novels, the Sea
Witch Voyages are adult adventures not meant to be taken seriously. I write
them for fun, they are meant to be read as tongue-in-cheek Errol Flynn / Jack
Sparrow romps. They are entertainment… even if the real pirates were far from
entertaining to the poor souls who met a boat-load of them somewhere on the
open ocean!
Links:
Twitter: @HelenHollick
My Author Page on an Amazon near you : viewAuthor.at/HelenHollick
Thanks Antoine - apologies for being late on board, power cuts today thanks to uninvited guest Imogen...!
ReplyDeleteYou have my sympathy - I didn't lose power but the internet became intermittent, causing me endless concern as to whether the problem was internal or external. It seems it was the latter. Thanks Imogen!
DeleteGreat post, Helen. Very entertaining.
ReplyDeleteThank you Iain, I had fun writing it!
DeleteVery enjoyable Helen, thank you - having lived for many years in the 'pirate infested' Caribbean I just love pirate stories, fact or fiction!
ReplyDeleteThank you Lally - hopefully you'll enjoy my Sea Witch Voyages then! :-)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post!Well done. I do agree that pace is very important. Helen's books have a great flow and you feel right in the middle of the action. Now I am off to some "safe danger" with a book! Oh and Sir Antoine Vanner... I am being proper with my English... I am going to investigate this Nicholas Dawlish on your website!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by Ginger!
DeleteMany thanks Ginger for the tap of your sword on my right shoulder. As I rise from my knees a dubbed knight I look forward to yet more adventures! And I hope you'll enjoy the acquaintance of Admiral Sir (in his later years) Nicholas Dawlish and his indomitable wife Florence! http://dawlishchronicles.com/dawlish
DeleteThe appeal of pirates? I'd say the chance of finding treasure (in real life) and the chance to experience danger and escape (in a book). Thanks for a great post, Helen!
ReplyDelete