An Interview with Captain Liberty StarCastle
Good day from the edges of Fangorn Forest, and I'll try not to be long-winded, but this is a visitor sent by the Pan Historian to interview you, mainly because you and and I both share that wonderful Craft reference book. So, in the interests of not being as long winded as most Ents, here goes: But, firstly, congratulations on making Agent! I'm sure you'll live up to your new responsibilities well.
Thanks for the thoughts, Fim. I’ll do my best all around. So what would you like to know?
When did you first come to Pan Historia, and what prompted you to stay?
That’s easy. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I stumbled across Pan Historia. I had been working on a book for a while, time travel and pirates, and had the whim to create a slew full of pirate web pages from my research notes. They don’t exist now, but one day I may put them back up. Anyway, I joined a pirate web ring one day and after a week or so browsing other web sites in the ring I happened upon this page, Ile de Torture. It was like none of the other sites. No links to merchandise or facts about pirates and when I probed deeper I discovered folks were writing stories about pirates. Not just writing them, but living them, as alter egos. I started to browse this site called Pan Historia from the pirate page and was amazed at what I had chanced upon. I had never been to a writer’s site before. It was new, exciting, all about writing and I joined after about 3 hours of discovery. My name was easy, a character in my book, a female pirate, the heroine. That was August 2003.
While I'll likely never go to sea (I refuse to be built into a ship!!!) what is the seafaring life like, Liberty? And piracy, too! What's a pirate's life like? If you could change careers, would you come back to land, and stay here, or continue at sea, perhaps in a more legit sense?
The greatest thing about life on the sea is the open sea, unpredictable and exhilarating. The wind, no city lights, starry skies, fantastic horizons. You get the picture. On the other hand a pirate’s life is not all glorious sunsets and cool breezes. Running a ship is like running a small hostile village, in a way. True, pirates take what they want whenever they want and may appear to be as free as the wind that fills their sails, pillage and plunder their creed, but aboard ship each man or woman has a duty, a task they are responsible for. There are rules and laws and protocol. At least that’s how it is aboard my ship, the Black Star. But then again, I owe everything to my crew and I would never treat them like anything but family. Change careers? Maybe if I found that perfect pirate captain to steal away to land with. You never know. But he’d have to match the thrill of sailing into bright red sunset at the end of a great haul. Know what I mean?
Well, maybe not. I go to the tops of mountains to look over forests and that bright red sunset, but,
er, nevermind..
Just who is Captain Liberty StarCastle? What motivates her, and how is she perceived
by others? And tell me, does she care?
Interesting question. Some days I know her really well, and then other days she manages to surprise me. She is very much like the sea she loves, fights hard for what she wants and believes in, is loyal to her crew, would die for the man she loves and enjoys a good tankard of whisky at the end of the day. She’s beautiful and has no problem exploiting her sexuality to get what she wants. She knows what it means to earn respect and I think she cares what others think. Hmmm… yeah she cares. She misses family, home at times, and that is what makes her venerable, and a woman beyond all else.
What directions would you like to steer (ahem) Ile de Torture towards?
As a matter of fact, Ile is currently waking up from a long hiatus as it were. There are always new directions to take the Novel, the seas are open to us all and adventure is stirring in the wind. A while back we had pondered sailing for the East, Japan, seek the riches of the orient. I’d like to see that happen, maybe take a voyage to Indian Ocean, see what lurks off the coast of Madagascar.
Any sort of shared writing ideas you have kicking around that you haven't quite yet started in on, from any genre? Ie, what might be in store in the future, assuming you'll have the copious free time with all you are already doing here, to develop one of these ideas.
Well, those who know me know I write in several genres, and that can be very challenging in itself, as far as ideas go. I like to keep my options open no matter where I write, depending on writing mates, parallel plot lines and of course what mood I’m in on any given day. Some of my other characters are entangled in existing storylines with pre-set long term ideas set in place, and others are solo writers and pretty much free to write whatever. I just ended a long-term storyline that had been ongoing for nearly two years at Ile. It was a process I had to fight hard to keep Liberty interested in, but finally it came to a close. That’s always a good feeling. In truth, I often allow my characters a great deal of freedom to develop their own ideas, and just hope I can keep up.
Well, I see that the ship is about ready to sail since what I think is the anchor is being hauled up, and I'll let you get back to your tasks and writings at hand. Thank you very much for taking time to talk with us at the Pan Historian!
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