Struggling with my pirate queen

The very short version it's a fantasy setting, and one of the main characters was a pirate queen. The story starts with a mutiny, and her having to walk the plank. Of course she survives, but she has lost her ship and crew. So far, so good. The problem is I want her to be ruthless without being evil, and lighthearted, but not "Jack Sparrow". If that makes sense.

To elaborate, the whole pirate thing is inspired by the real pirates. There was a war going on, and she joined the crew of a ship as a privateer. For non-history nerds, they were pirates in every way, except they had the king's blessing, and only attacked the nation's enemies. So if you're Brittish, you could get the king's blessing to loot, plunder and basically be a pirate, but only if you avoid attacking Brittish ships. However, after the war, she enjoyed her privateer life a bit too much, so she wanted to continue doing it, just like real life pirates did. But now she's suddenly an outlaw. In return, she can attack any ship she wants. Everyone wants to catch her anyway, so one more bounty isn't going to make a difference.

That's part one of what I'm struggling with. Sure she walks the plank in the beginning, but that's how she got the pirate ship in the first place. She's not a nice person. I don't want her to be "evil", but she doesn't have much problem robbing and killing just about anyone who gets in her way. That doesn't mean she kills for fun, of course. It's more a case of if you give her what she wants, she'll take it and leave you alone. But if you don't, she will kill you without a care in the world.

At the same time, I do want her to be likeable, and easy to relate to. A large part of the story revolves around a treasure hunt, and she comes along for the ride because they pay her (and promise her a part of the treasure). During the adventure, I want to show a much more lighthearted side of her. She's carefree, enjoying living for the moment, and don't really care about anyone or anything. While she will help her comrades when needed, it's more about making sure she gets paid, than saving them because she cares about them. The tricky thing is I want her to be a somewhat lighthearted pirate adventurer, but at the same time avoid drawing comparisons to a certain Jack Sparrow. The story is for adults, so there will be blood, gore, and possibly some sex involved. I'm not going for an Adults Only rating, but I'm not holding back anything to make it "safe" for kids. I'm 42, and this is a story I want to read. Simple as that.

Anyway, anyone have suggestions on how to write her? Personality, characteristics, mindset, anything? It would be much appreciated.

 

I don't know if your story is set in the real world or not, but if so, a woman in a man's world will have to really earn the respect of her subordinates. She will need to be ruthless and authoritarian, but also have to know how to earn and keep their loyalty.

My suggestion is to study powerful woman in history. For example, Dowager Empress Cixi, Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, Catherine the Great, and so forth for inspiration.

This lady might give you some ideas - she wasn't a pirate, but a bandit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoolan_Devi

 

I'm not sure "likable" is what you should be aiming for as nothing you've told me makes her sound like someone I would like to be around. I think what you want is her actions to be understandable. She needs a clear reason as to why she wanted to be a pirate in the first place as that is not a nice "profession" for a female as your not dealing with nice people. I think coming up with all the stuff your asking for suggestions on is really your job as the writer. I second doing some actual research on real female pirates in history and who they were before. I personally have never heard of a pirate "queen". Is that an unofficial title people would call her? I'm assuming she has no royal blood. Nor have I ever head of King's giving blessings to pirates as long as they didn't attack their ship at sea. How would the pirates know whose ship was whose? I'm not someone who knows a huge amount about that life so maybe I'm wrong.

But you need to think of ways to make her relatable. What makes a person relatable can often be their struggle for something relatable.

 

It was something practised in Elizabethan England. Sir Francis Drake was a privateer - England was at war with Spain, and English privateers were allowed to attack Spanish ships. They would receive a "letter of marquee" from the monarch, and the captured ships and booty would be sold and the proceeds divided according to strictly laid down rules, with a share going to the monarch. Without a letter of marquee, the person could be prosecuted as a common pirate.

 

We are talking sailing pirates, not insane cultists of Khorne in WH40K. The reason those
blood thirsty monsters that kill even each other for fun are mildly entertaining is because
of the absurdity in their pursuit to get in good with their beloved Blood God of Chaos.
Motivations matter, even if they are not meant to make a whole lotta since. Just being a
wanton killing machine with no defined direction or goal, makes the followers of Khorne
look far more organized and understandable by comparison.
So you might want to make them a tad bit less psychopath ultra pillager and all the other
terrible things that make for a damn dedicated historical tyrant. Every person who has their
own closet fantasies of starting a rampage off by taking a weed whacker to that annoying
neighbor who bitches every time your dog shits in their yard. But there in lies the crux,
they have clear and defined motivations for going ape-shit and snapping.
Insane as it is, it makes sense and other people can relate to the person they will dub
The Weed Whacker Massacre Maniac, cause they have been in similar situations that
others have pushed them over the deep end. They didn't just say to themselves, must
murder the world because I don't human.

 

Thank you very much for that information. You learn something new everyday x

 

Ok, you don't want her to be evil but she definitely can't be good (cus' shes a pirate) so we're talking about a something similar to a chaotic neutral character so yeah, Jack Sparrow is a good comparison but a bit too light-hearted, I think Edward Kenway (Assassin's Creed: Black Flag) is closer to what you want.

That being said, you need to be aware that pirates have almost no morals so she is probably ok not only with murder but also rape and torture (even if she isn't the one doing this kind of stuff).

Lastly, even though most pirates were males you should definitely read about them.

P.S: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Shih

 

Also Mary Read and Anne Bonney, two female pirates from the 18 century. Not to mention China's heritage of having badass pirate queens.

 

What is the focus of the story going to be? You've given us an outline of your character's traits and a bit about her background. Some readers may find her more likeable than others. A character who kills for selfish reasons—just because somebody won't give them what they want—isn't very likeable, in my opinion. (They can be, but you'll need to work at it.) But what is the story itself going to be about? Presumably not just following her around and showing us what she does. You mention a treasure hunt. Is that the goal of the story? Find the treasure? Does she have plans about what to do with her share of it? Or what?

What about the other characters? In order to have a richly-conceived story, we'll need more than just her. The other major characters will be just as important as she is ...not necessarily as a 'main' character, but they will need to be fully-fledged people as well, in order for this story to be interesting. They can't just be 'sword carriers.' Their attitude towards her will go a long way towards influencing what your readers think of her.

 

I haven’t read other replies yet so I can form my own initial thoughts ...

It is quite hard to say much as all that you are asking seems to depend almost entirely on her backstory. What was she doing before becoming a privateer? What did she bring to the table to be hired in the first place (skills and abilities)? Once you have those two things nailed down the rest should flow nicely enough.

She must also have some principles. You need to clarify to yourself what her limits are, what she is willing to sacrifice, and exactly what ‘care free’ means in an environment where such an attitude would likely get you killed pretty quickly unless you were supremely gifted in some way - that said it is possible she gains her position simply by way of friendship/relationship with another renowned pirate.

I don’t see why a ‘ruthless’ attitude would be hard to show. She’d have to come down hard on possible mutinies and back them up with violent acts simply as a means of staying in charge - self-preservation would trump ethics in most situations. Perhaps being put to the plank is precisely where she floundered in making a choice between remaining in charge and committing something she regarded as an atrocity?

When it comes to liking a character it doesn’t matter if they are evil or not. Your main character will need depth no matter what you do; that’s your job not ours.

Tbh it sounds like you’re asking for ideas rather than coming up with then yourself. If you want my ideas, beyond what I’ve mentioned, then pay me to write your novel for you

In the meantime try reading Sea Wolf (an historical account of probably the most famous captain ever to exist - Lord Thomas Cochrane).

 

The other thing you might consider is not worrying about whether she is likeable or not. Let her be exactly what she is. You might end up with a more nuanced and memorable story (and character) than just a jolly female pirate with an eye for the men and a lust for treasure ...or vice versa. She might actually be quite selfish and depraved. But maybe more interesting as a result?

 

As a reader, I can like characters that are morally ambiguous if they are funny, clever, and have some sort of reason for what they do, even if I don't like the reason. Locke Lamora is a great example of that, imo.

As for ideas that people haven't already stated, have you looked at Stede Bonnet? Real pirate, but he was a fish out of water with a bit of a moral code, if I remember correctly.

 

Your character might not be evil, but as a pirate/privateer, they would be morally ambiguous, or at least quite selfish, probably assholes. As such, your character would be closer to Iron Man than Jack Sparrow, and as we all know, Tony Stark, despite (or maybe bcause?) his obvious flaws, is one of the most likeable characters of all time.

There isn't really one right way of doing it, though. From the top of my head, I can think of 2 other possible ways to have your character not be evil and still be a pirate: Maybe she had no choice in becoming one? Maybe poverty/family/etc pushed her to becoming one and now that the made the first step, there is no turning back? (The punishment for piracy was death)
Or maybe she is out for revenge and the person she wants to kill fled to the new world and she sees piracy as a way to get to that person? Kind of a "means-justify-the-end"- thing.

 

Thanks for the help, guys. Much appreciated. I'm still in the early stages of the story, and trying to flesh out the characters. But to elaborate on a couple of things:

1. As the very first line in the first post says, it's a fantasy setting. I'm not even sure if I will have humans in it at all at this point. I'm thinking having mice or rats as the most common race, actually. Not the Mickey Mouse type, though. That means the pirates are all rats. Literally.

2. The "pirate queen" is simply a title to distinguish her from her male counterparts. And don't worry, she's not the only female pirate. I'm thinking the world itself is quite dangerous, so it's a lot of every man for himself going on. Of course, it's not quite that bad, and most places are quite peaceful. But there are plenty of opportunity for work as just about anything, for both men and women. One of the main characters is a highly respected gladiator, and even she's female.

3. As for the "why did she join them?" part, this isn't really a big part of the story. It's just her background, combined with some world building. There was a war going on many years ago when she was young and somewhat naive, and she joined a ship as a privateer to fight for her country. Not so much different from joining the army, really. But over time, she learned to become ruthless and fight to survive (it was a war, after all), but she also got the taste of precious treasure. When the war ended, her privateer career should have ended too, but she led a mutiny, killed the captain and anyone in the crew who was loyal to him, and took command as the new captain.

There are two important things about all of that, though. First of all, she was young when she joined, and didn't know much about how the world really works. Over time, she learned that it's pretty much everyone for themselves. Even your own country can't be trusted. Once the war was over, she suddenly went from hero to outlaw over night, all because she kept doing what she had been doing for years legally already. Think about the Brittish/Spanish war, for instance. She was Brittish, so she was allowed to attack the Spanish ships. But now that the war is over, the Spanish ships are suddenly illegal to attack. "Right" and "wrong" are suddenly just words. It's politics.

Second, it also means there really was a war going on. It won't be a part of the story or anything, but it helps flesh out the history of the world. So if I were to write another book in this setting later (not necessarily a sequel), that's one thing I could expand upon. Maybe one of those dreadful "origin stories" how she became a pirate. Or I could write a story where she gets her ship back, perhaps. I really like fleshing out the history like this. To me, it makes the world feel more alive. It's not just there for the story. It has always been there, and always will be. If that makes any sense.

4. So how far is she willing to go? What is she really capable of? Rape has been mentioned further up. She's not that type of person, and honestly don't really care for sex anyway. But if they have captured someone and the crew wants to rape the captive, her mentally is something like "don't make too much noise. I'm trying to work." She doesn't care. That said, she is loyal to money. If you pay her for her loyalty, she'll do anything for you. We could have a crew full of big guys, with her as the only woman. Normally that would be risky, but not really for her. If they raped her, she would find a way to get revenge - as she has already proven plenty of times in other ways. She hasn't been raped or anything, but taking command as a pirate captain isn't an easy thing to do. Keeping the power is even harder. But if someone want her to escort a beautiful, young woman somewhere on her ship, she'll do anything to protect her, including killer her own crew. Money first, people second.

5. So what's the story about, anyway? Well, that's a bit harder to explain, without giving too much away. But we're talking an old map showing uncharted islands outside the normal maps, dating back at least hundreds of years. Why were these islands forgotten? What can possibly be waiting there? The only clue is they have been used for cultist activities and worshipping ancient gods (think Loveraft style). And where there is ancient temples, there are ancient treasures waiting to be claimed. The trick is getting there, which is why our lovely band of failed adventurers recruit the pirate queen to take them there, as she's the only one dumb enough or brave enough to take them there. And because she's the only one they can afford to hire. If she just had a ship, anyway.

 

I believe this is the basis for The Mariner's Revenge by the Decemberists. Good song. Good story.

 

Never heard of that one, honestly. But as a rule of thumb, if an idea comes to mind easily, it's probable that someone else already had it.

 

For a pirate queen, you might take time out to watch Cuthroat Island starring Geena Davis. A bit on the cheesy side but a rollicking pirate movie nonetheless.