My Novel

I did forget to mention my hook for the story: Will the Captain and crew stay together and complete the adventure, or fly apart before finding the sword?

Right now, the ship is wrecked and being rebuilt. I know a lot of the crew finds this predicament a very bad omen for things to come. After the ship is rebuilt, will the Captain be able to keep his crew together and continue the voyage, or will the crew mutiny, take the ship and go home?

Pirate captains of history always had to face issues of keeping their crews loyal, or end up dead, marooned, or in some other nasty situation. The protagonist of my story is no different. He knows he must, somehow, keep the crew faithful to the cause of finding the sword, or face the consequences. I deal with this dilemma from the beginning and it will continue to be a nagging issue throughout my story. It's this tension between captain and crew that provides the hook for my story.

My Novel, 'Voyage of the Jewel Star'.

My current writing project, which also my first, is a fantasy story that I titled Voyage of the Jewel Star. Before I get into the plot, some background is required. I am, admittedly, a D&D'er. I have played D&D and AD&D since 1978 and been a Dungeon Master since 1979. From 1980/81, I've been developing my own campaign world called Oriden (OR-i-den). Most of the campaign takes place on one continent called Oridalia (or-i-DAY-lee-a), although there are three other continents on my world. My story takes place in the seas around Oridalia, particularly the Island Sea, which is bordered by the main continent and the Oridian (or-ID-ee-ann) Archipelago, and the Oceanus Draconis (Oridalia's eastern ocean). The story's main character is a pirate captain named Ratha-Zîm (Ratha-Zeem). He captains the pirate ship the Jewel Star. He has several companions who accompany him on this voyage:

• MacKall, Ratha-Zîm's second in command and best friend--an accomplished assassin before taking up the pirate's life.
• Alna Meilstrum, the Captain's Master-at-Arms--a former lover and his fighting arm.
• Thorvald Ironblade, the Ship's Quartermaster--a Sea Dwarf (part of the Dwarf race who live on ships instead of in mines) who came with the Captain from their first ship.
• Mélvâs Felstone (MELL-vase FELL-stone), the Ship's Physick (Medic)--another former crew member of Ratha-Zîm's first ship, she's Half-Elven and knows healing magic.
• Rhinaes (ri-NAY-us) Flashands, the Ship's Tactical Officer--an illusionist (a wizard that specializes in illusions and hypnotism) who hates manual labor, especially if it involves him.
• Zirâm Destívan (zi-RAME des-TYE-van), the Ship's Navigation Officer--an adept warrior, has a secret life that puts him at odds with the Captain even though the Captain doesn't know.
• Chilstar of the Winter Moons, the newest crew member--a mage (general practitioner wizard) who loves ancient history.

The plot revolves around finding a powerful magic sword, an artifact from ancient history, and their perilous adventure in retrieving the relic.

I've completed three chapters so far and working on the fourth. A subplot that I've developed is a romance between Rhinaes and Alna that carries the story from scene to scene. Interwoven with that subplot is one between Rhinaes and MacKall--MacKall does not like Rhinaes' lazyness and wants to get rid of him permanently. Alna is definitely involved in this one also.

I've submitted a draft to a writers Yahoo group and received both criticism and positive feedback. Right now, I have the Captain, MacKall, Mélvâs, Chilstar and a Halfling character starting a side adventure, a rescue mission, after having the Jewel Star shipwrecked on an island. This part of the story should be pretty interesting as they have to out fox an archmage and his personal army. This little adventure is going take some time to develop and write, so additions to the story, right now, will be slow in coming.