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A Joyous Yule and More of the "Rules"
A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!  If you do not celebrate Christmas, please accept my wishes for peace, joy, love, and goodwill.

This year we veered from the normal path regarding our Christmas dinner.  Rather than the more usual turkey, ham, or even goose, we had prime rib.  There was enough of it, that I'll no doubt have prime rib sandwiches from now until the New Year!

A few days ago when I last posted, I mentioned that I was going to try and change the look of my journal.  I did and I hope you like it.  I also hope you like the picture that now accompanies it.  The original was a small post card sized sketch of the schooner HMS Island Expedition.  It figures prominently in both BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE and ALWAYS SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS.  From time to time I also try to work on a more detailed "plan" drawing of the craft.  Doing so better helps me visualize it, and allows me to ensure that details I write about are as accurate as can be.  If anyone happens to go to my profile and checks the other picture that is there, it was meant to be a little more symbolic of things in the stories.  Basically it is the head sails of a vessel silhouetted against a night sky and a large four pointed star.  Originally the sails were to have belonged to Island Expedition.  I changed the name only to avoid confusion between the two pictures.  (There is a vessel that appears in the second story called Evening Star, but this picture does not specifically depict it.)

When I ended the last discussion about the "rules," I said that there existed a condition or a problem for everyone who writes fiction.  It is simply a question of how one goes about interweaving the fictional stories of their imagination with the facts and reality of the actual world.  Whether a fiction writer realizes this situation or not, I believe he/she formulates a set of rules that he/she follows in dealing with it.  Those rules may determine that a story take place in an unnamed generic city, or they might insist that the fictional events happen in a real place.  There is also the question of bringing real people, real situations, and real events into one's fictional story.  I think every writer responds differently to this challenge, some to the point of leaving reality behind and writing fantasy of science fiction.

While this problem certainly exists when writing a contemporary story, it also exists when dealing with historical, quasi-historical, or period pieces.  Perhaps it is more of a problem in those types of works, because the eras and situations depicted have been with us for so long.  To further explore this, let's look at a type or genre of story that I enjoy, both to read and to write.  It's often referred to as Naval Adventure.  I define Naval Adventure as those tales of maritime warfare and nautical adventure, especially occurring from the time of the American Revolution through the War of 1812.  I'm talking about the days of wooden ships, iron men, and fighting sail.  And certainly if you look thoroughly in the library or in your neighborhood bookstore, you can find a great many stories and series of stories that meet this rather broad definition.

To be a little more specific, here are some of the stories or series I refer to:  The Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester, The Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin (Master and Commander) series by Patrick O'Brian, The Lord Nicholas Ramage series by Dudley Pope, the Richard Bolitho series, by Alexander Kent, the Alan Lewrie series by Dewey Lambdin, (with a stretch into historical fantasy) the Temeraire series (with William Laurence) by Naomi Novik, (and if I may include it) the Stone Island Sea Stories (with Edward Pierce) by yours truly.  There are of course, many more stories and series of stories, but I mention these as they will help me make a point.

If there is one thing in common for all the primary characters mentioned above, it is that they are all in (or start out in) the British Royal Navy.  Have you ever wondered why so many of these tales concern the British Navy, even when the last three writers are American and many of the tales take place during an era when Great Britain and the United States were sometimes adversaries?  Well I've concluded that it has to do with size and perhaps the writers' desires to more seamlessly blend fact and fiction.

In the early 1800's the British Navy consisted of several hundred ships and vessels.  There were several hundred post captains on the captains list, and some thousands of lieutenants, midshipmen, and warrant officers.  Crewmen surely numbered into the tens of thousands.  Compare that, if you will with the infant United States Navy.  Even at its peak, it amounted to a mere couple of dozen warships.  That equates to two or three dozen captains, perhaps a hundred or more lieutenants, and a proportionately smaller number of warrants, midshipmen, and crewmen.

I cannot speak for any of the above mentioned writers, other than myself, but I don't think that any of them purposely set out to cause readers to believe their characters were real.  At the same time, I don't think they wanted that character to stand out as being fictional or unreal.  I believe it is much easier to hide a character such as Alan Lewrie amongst the several hundred Royal Navy captains that really did exist, than to insert him in a list of only a few American captains.  While each of these writers certainly knows, and hopefully the average reader knows that these characters are fictional, the intent is to minimize the "fictionality" of the character.  The idea is to erase or fade as much as possible that "I'm a fictional character" stamp that automatically appears on any imaginary person when a writer first creates him.

We can also apply the same logic to ships and vessels as well.  Again it is easier to "hide" a fictional ship amongst the several hundred that really existed in the British fleet than it is to hide it amongst the few dozen of the early American Navy.  A fictional ship stands out as fictional against a background of only a few real ones.  

Another reason writers might have centered upon the British Navy is because of it's record of success.  During the era of which we speak, the Royal Navy fought numerous engagements, ranging from ship versus ship duels to some of the most memorable fleet actions in history.  Furthermore, the individual British ships and massed fleets were quite often, and always expected to be successful.  Again this gives one a broad background against which to place (and hide) the exploits of a fictional character.  (As an American and twenty-two year veteran of service in the United States Navy, I do not slight the accomplishments of that service during that time.  There were certainly some noteworthy and inspiring actions, but they were few and far between when compared to the British.  Again it is a matter of numbers and the ability to hide a fictional character and perhaps a fictional ship.)

You know, I think this has gone on long enough for today.  The next time I resume upon this topic, I'll explore some of the ways a writer of this type of story can make his(her) character seem even more real.
Dave