Goodreads asked Tricia Levenseller:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Tricia Levenseller Pirates of the Caribbean is my favorite movie of all time. I love how the movie combines historical pirates with fantastical elements. I wanted to write a story with those same concepts, but I wanted a female protagonist and a larger romantic plotline.

I knew I wanted my heroine to be a pirate herself, but I also liked the idea of her getting kidnapped by pirates. So I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make this work. This is where the concept of pirate royalty and pirate lords came from. If there's a whole kingdom of pirates, some of them would be on the heroine's side and some of them wouldn't. She could be kidnapped by ENEMY pirates.

Then I needed to figure out how a kick ass pirate girl would get kidnapped by pirates. If she's so competent and talented, how could she ever get kidnapped by pirates? The answer to this was simple: she got herself kidnapped on purpose.

From here it was a matter of asking myself questions and waiting until the right answer came to me. Why would she let herself be kidnapped? She needs to steal something from off the ship. What does she want to steal? They're pirates! A treasure map, of course.

Then for the fantastical elements--the kraken and mermaids have been done several times over. I needed a familiar creature, but one that hadn't been exhausted yet. That's when I decided on sirens. I love Dreamworks' Sinbad, and I liked how they used sirens, but I wanted to create my own mythology surrounding these creatures and make it fit the plot I'd already constructed.

I needed to tie the sirens to that treasure map my protagonist needs to steal. So I decided that sirens love treasure. They hoard it like some myths surrounding dragons. After they sing sailors to their deaths, they rob them of any valuables found on them and their ship. The sirens pile up all of their plunder on one island--this is where the treasure map leads. And it works out great because my protagonist is female. Only males are affected by the sirens song. It makes her more equipped for the task.

The last and easiest bit to figure out was the romance. The romance couldn't be with the captain of the crew who kidnaps her. If the captain fell in love with her, he'd just let her go. Then there wouldn't be any conflict. So I made the first mate the love interest, which divided his loyalties. He had a captain and crew with their own goals. They need the daughter of the pirate king as a hostage so the pirate king will do their bidding. But his feelings toward the protagonist make him want to set her free.

Of course, he doesn't know she wants to be on the ship in order to rob him blind.

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