Ahoy, me hearties!
It's my pleasure today to host adventure/romance novelist Christine Steendam as part of the ongoing Here There Be Pirates Blog Hop and Book Giveaway.
For those of you who came in late, we have seven swashbuckling authors giving away seven pirate novels to seven lucky winners during the course of the event September 8 through September 19 (International Talk Like A Pirate Day).
Click here to enter the Giveaway!
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And without further ado, enjoy an interview with Christine Steendam on the art of writing pirate fiction!
What made you want to write about pirates in the first place? What is it about them that intrigued you as a writer?
Pirates just scream adventure. There is something incredibly romantic yet dangerous about a man that lives by no rules but his own. As a writer there is a lot of potential there for stories and conflict.
Tell us a little about your book, Heart Like an Ocean, that you’re giving away for this event.
Heart Like an Ocean is an adventure romance novel. Yes, romance… It follows the story of Senona Montez, a young, naïve, upper-class Spanish woman looking for an escape from the prison that is societies’ expectations. Her paths cross with the handsome British privateer, Brant Foxton, and things get very interesting from there.
In reality, pirates were awful people that most of us wouldn’t want to run across if we were sailing a ship, but in our culture they’ve been romanticized so often that it’s almost expected by some folk. Do you have trouble balancing reality with the romanticized aura of the pirate, or do you not worry too much about that when crafting your tales?
I admit, I romanticize pirates. I mean, I do write romance after all, so if my pirates had rotting teeth and were murdering people left, right and center that wouldn’t be very fitting of a romance, now would it? So, I really don’t worry about balancing reality too much… though I do like to get my facts right.
How often do you turn to real-life pirates for inspiration in creating your characters or plot?
I haven’t gotten a lot of inspiration from real-life pirates, but I definitely look towards them for fact-checking. If I want to know if I can get away with female crew members or pirates I turn to the people that lived and were documented as pirates or privateers.
What makes your series (or book) different from other piratical adventures out there? What’s your main goal with your pirate stories?
My stories are not primarily pirate stories. They are romance adventures set within a pirate setting. There is so much more there to explore in the story—both society, personal growth, and the age old question of right from wrong.
Bonus Question: If you had to design a pirate flag for yourself, what would it look like?
Because my pirate ship is called the BlackFox, I’d probably have a fox skull with a cutlass clutched in its teeth.
Author Bio:
Christine Steendam is the Award-Winning author of the Foremost Chronicles and the Ocean Series.
She is a self-proclaimed genre hopper in both her writing and reading, an avid horseback rider, and a cup of coffee is never far from her hand.
Christine makes her home in Manitoba, Canada on a sprawling 15 acre ranch with her husband, sons, and assortment of animals.
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