Shifty

My basic question here is, how well do you have to know/convey your time period in order to write a good story about it?

Specifically, I'm planning a story about piracy in the early 1700s, but I don't consider myself an expert as far as day-to-day life on a vessel during the Age of Sail was. I mean, I have no idea how exactly an anchor is weighed; I am clueless when it comes to all the different kinds of rigging there are; I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to describing the details of an eighteenth-century brigantine.

Do I need to know all this stuff in order to write a good pirate story? Or is it perfectly fine to just focus on the characters, plot, and action (cannonades, boarding, duels, etc.)?

Non Serviam

If you're writing historical fiction, you do need to know your stuff. Fortunately there are easy, cheap and fun ways to learn it.

Personally I suggest joining a reputable living history society focusing on the 18th Century, and spending a weekend or so at one of their shows. You'll probably (a) learn a lot yourself, which will give you interesting ideas and save you from making basic howlers, and (b) meet some experts from the society. Then you can phone one of the experts to check your facts while writing.

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tehuti88

Even if you don't focus on all the details, readers will be able to tell some knowledge is missing, if they're knowledgeable enough themselves on the subject. If you get something wrong, do it from artistic license, not ignorance.

Even if you can't find some reenactors or such as suggested (I myself live in a very small and remote area where such things are not to be found), surely you can find at least some online resources and experts to ask questions of. This sounds like a subject that isn't too obscure to look into.

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lin

No way around it. People read historical fiction for history. Like they read military stuff for military ordinance and tactics and details. You have to have it cold.

If you don't want to spring for that, you'd better swing it to fantasy.

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HarryG

I wonder of it would be possible to learn sufficient detail from reading several books already written about that period? I don't know the answer, but otherwise, the historical study could take some considerable time.

Shifty

I disagree. If I were to write a novel about pirates, the majority of people would swing to it because they're thinking of how awesome Jack Sparrow was, not how many cannon you can fit on a sloop, or how long it takes to sail from Barbados to Nassau, or what sort of government existed on pirate vessels (a sort of democracy, interestingly), or what purpose the quartermaster really served.

Besides, even if I do design an Age of Sail fantasy world, I will still have to know about this stuff. Just making it a fantasy doesn't mean I can neglect information, especially if I deliberately, ostentatiously give it such a setting (think Guy Gavriel Kay).

I know a lot of general stuff, about the pirates of the period, about weapons, different sorts of ships, officers, etc., but the nitty-gritty -- namely, how to describe someone weighing anchor -- is a slippery subject.

HarryG, I have a truckload of books on the period:

Under the Black Flag
The Sea Rover's Practice
The History of Pirates
Blackbeard
Scourge of the Seas
Pirates (Collins Gem)
Real Pirates

The problem is, these popular histories don't delve as deep into daily life as a fiction writer needs to -- not that I'm surprised.

I can't find any living history groups hereabouts. I'll keep looking.