Writing a Regency set on the High Seas!

A Regency romance that is also a pirate tale? Set on a schooner and in exotic ports of call? Oh yes, that’s just what Wind Raven is.

A year in the making, it tells of an English ship captain who is ordered into the Caribbean by the Prince Regent to spy on a pirate whose been attacking British merchant ships. Captain Jean Nicholas Powell, named after his grandfather Jean Donet, a noble born French pirate, has been a privateer for England and is now sailing for Powell and Sons, the wealthy family shipping business. The last thing he needs is an assignment from Prinny to track down some pirate, especially when he is forced to take as a passenger an American hoyden who thinks she can crew with his men.

How does one go about writing such a tale? Well, wanting to make my story historically accurate, I first I had to get all the ship stuff right. Hundreds of hours of research went into the study of schooners, their sail configurations, how one moved about on them and what happened to them when huge waves crashed onto the deck or a battle had shot bringing the sails down around the crew. It was not enough that I read books, The Sailor’s Word Book, and studied diagrams until I was dreaming about them. Oh, no. I had to experience it for myself. SEE MORE