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This is a journal in which I, pussinboots, will post my NaNoWriMo entry for 2003. 'buccanoir' is a pun on the words "buccaneer" (a [much misused] term for a pirate) and "noir," which I took from "film noir," the movie genre after which I am loosely modeling the plot.

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the_alchemist said,

"None of my business but...If you were my slave I would force you to write fantasy fiction narrated by a character who thinks and writes exactly like you think and write in that entry. I think you tone yourself down too much when you're in fiction mode."

At first when I thought about it, I was certain it could not be done. The way I write my journal entries is steeped in references to modern tv shows, movies, books, private jokes, and very rarely, a historical matter or classic work of literature. Also, I am writing from my perspective, as me, and I am not the kind of person you find in a fantasy world.

But my mind kept gnawing on it incessantly, trying to find a way to marry this sarcastic, derogatory narrative with a real plot and characters. I decided historical fiction would work, because I could make as many references as I liked--there were plays, poetry, books, and news in the 1700's, just as there are now. Of course if it was historical fiction, the main character was to be a pirate--I am far too impassioned over them to pick anything else from history. After this crucial decision, I knew it would be all right to base him on me because people could understand, if not love, a main character who was like me and was a pirate--it would explain a few things, like the stench, the lechery, and the manipulation.

I wrote the first seven pargraphs as a test, before I ever even knew I was going to do NaNoWriMo. I still may not use that part, but I did post it in case anyone wants to read it. I have chalked it up as "notes" since it was only a test to see if this style of writing worked.

Simply writing about an eighteenth-century pirate in this style was not enough though; I needed something more, a way to guide the plot. It is very difficult to make most of your commentary humorous and/or clever, and takes more time than regular writing. Making up a plot in addition to using this narrative style would be too hard. So, to make things even more bizarre, I blended the film noir storytelling style (think old detective movies) with my sarcastically narrated historical fiction.

As I started writing, I chose a setting and time: circa 1714-1717 Nassau, capital of New Providence Island in the Bahamas--the capital of the 'pirate nation' during the Golden Age of Piracy. There were two 'pirate nations' during the Golden Age, and this was the second. The entire island was run by pirates, and Nassau was where their fort (stolen, of course) and main harbor lay. I chose this because film noir depicts the underworld, the street life, and the protagonist is nearly always very aware of criminal customs, haunts, and slang. Nassau was that underworld, and I have placed Grey as a prominent figure in it.

My literary influences, I am finding, include Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr from the "Burglar Who" series, Jonathan Gash's rascal Lovejoy (and you had best not dare tell anyone I read those pulp frights), a bit of inspiration from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, and the 200+ page novel I finished when I was twelve which is LOCKED AWAY FROM THE LIGHT OF DAY, but I liked what I did with the first-person narrative in that, and I plan to use such tricks again.

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FOOTNOTES FROM TEXT:

1. I am using much of my own slang while I write it. I will go back and put in more authentic vocabulary after some studying. :)

2. I left dates out of this story so that I could sneak real historical characters in here and there. It is highly unlikely that Grey would have crossed the paths of some of them, and even less likely that he would meet or know of more than one or two, but this is for fun.

3. "Impressed" refers to being impressed by "press gangs," not a feeling of awe ;) Because of the indescribably terrible conditions in the Royal Navy, very few people would voluntarily join up. Consequently, the Navy would kidnap able-bodied men and force them to serve on board. My grammar may be incorrect here; if you know it to be so, please inform me. :)

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