Songs of the Mariners (Upper Middle Grade Historical Fantasy)
1. First Assignment (Story Statement):
Get off the streets and aid the Captain in his efforts to defeat pirates and sea monsters and make the ocean safer for everyone.
2. Second Assignment (Antagonist):
The two main antagonists ofSongs of the Mariners are pirate Captain Black Roy and privateer Captain Arthur Tremayne.
Black Roy is a sylph, or air fae. He hates humans and lives in an island castle north of Scotland, killing or driving away all humans who trespass in his territory. He wants to reconquer the United Kingdom and Ireland for his race. Black Roy is a powerful magic-user and can call the winds. He has wings and can turn invisible while flying. He commands demons with a cat o’nine tails made from bones.
On the surface, Arthur Tremayne is a valiant and skilled sea captain. Respected by his peers, he is a sorcerer who uses magic potions and hunts the most brutal pirates and collects the rewards for their capture. Tremayne acts benevolent towards his crew, but he also has a manipulative way of needling them about their insecurities and reminding them how lost they would be without him.
Tremayne is also secretly a water fae who shares Black Roy's goal. He is using his human crew as guinea pigs to see how well they can fight against other humans with the potions he has developed instead of modern human weapons.
3. Third Assignment (Breakout Title): Songs of the Mariners (Part One of theSongs of the Land and Sea tetralogy).
I chose the titleSongs of the Mariners because of the strong emphasis on music in the book. Each chapter contains a lyric from a nautical folk song that is relevant to the content of the chapter in some way. I wanted to show how music influences the characters and colors their experiences and process their emotions. The music helps give story and its setting depth and culture.
I wanted this book and series to have a fairytale-like, operatic feel, and I think that the titleSongs of the Marinershelps show that.
Alternate title options:The Mariner's Tale;Tales of the Mariners
4. Fourth Assignment (Comparable Titles):
BecauseSongs of the Marinersis historical and fantasy mashup, I have chosen one comparable title from each of those genres.
A. The Traitor's Blade(Book Five ofThe Blackthorn Keyseries) by Kevin Sands (Aladdin Books, 2021). Historical Fiction.
B. Deeplight by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2019). Dark fantasy.
I adore The Blackthorn Key series because of its earnest, plucky-yet-still-vulnerable and relatable protagonist, enjoyable and interesting setting, heartwarming ride-or-die friendships, and dark yet neither bleak nor senselessly violent story. I made an effort to give Songs of the Mariners all of those things as well, so I think that people who enjoy The Blackthorn Key series may also find Songs of the Mariners to be within their tastes.
Meanwhile, Deeplight by Frances Hardinge is a work of high fantasy with beautifully scary sea monsters. I really like fantasy books that are deeply emotional and make the reader empathize with the characters and get into their heads. This book is no exception to that, and I hope that I managed to give Songs of the Mariners those qualities, too.
I think that the target audience for these books are readers in grades 5-8 or 9 or thereabouts, and that’s what I am aiming for as well.
5. Fifth Assignment (Hook Line with Conflict and Core Wound):
A malnourished homeless boy, abandoned by his mother and desperate for work and shelter, joins a crew of magician-sailors to battle pirates and monsters on the high seas.
6. Sixth Assignment (Protagonist's Inner Conflict and Secondary Conflict):
Thirteen-year-old Senan's inner conflict is that he wants to be self-reliant, but he also wants to be a useful part of a community. He feels that he is basically worthless as he is and wants to prove that he isn't. He also has a hard time trusting others and especially with asking for help.
For instance, if Senan were to be stung by a sea urchin while walking on a beach with his shipmates and looking for shellfish to eat, he would insist on taking care of the wound alone. He would rather be left behind by the group to take care of himself than feel like he was being a burden and slowing everyone down.
These feelings stem from his mother's abandonment of him and of his father choosing alcohol abuse and violence over his family. Senan also spent a short time working at a mine and was unable to do the work that was expected of him. Other workers had to pick up the slack for him, which made Senan feel very ashamed and guilty.
Senan's character arc in Songs of the Marinershas to do with him learning that trust is a two-way street. If he wants his shipmates to see him as reliable and trustworthy and be part of their crew, he must trust them and ask for their help when he needs it. He also has to keep his heart open and not assume that he can't trust anyone he meets right off the bat.
At the beginning of the story, Senan is homeless and unable to find work to support himself. Senan's desires to escape this life and be self-reliant (but also a useful part of a community) are what compel him to join Captain Tremayne’s crew in Maine. He agrees to help them hunt down a pirate ship off the North American coast. When they defeat these pirates, they acquire a map from them that reveals the location of Black Roy. They decide to sail across the Atlantic and go after him.
During this voyage, Senan bonds with his shipmates and comes to trust them like a family and feel accepted as a mariner. But these feelings of self-acceptance are threatened when he encounters some mermaids (one of whom he befriends) and learns that he may have fae blood.
Unfortunately for Senan, the duplicitous Captain Tremayne figured out that Senan has mixed heritage before he did. He told his crew that he is leading them to Black Roy’s island to defeat him, but his real plan is to deliver Senan to Black Roy.
Senan is half-sylph and half human. If Black Roy kills him, he will receive a dark blessing from the demon lord Balor. Balor hates humans and human-fae hybrids and will give great demonic power to a fae who kills a human-fae hybrid child. But only if that child is half whatever type of fae the killer is (e.g. a sylph like Black Roy must kill a half-sylph like Senan).
When Captain Tremayne and his crew finally have Black Roy’s island castle in their sights Captain Tremayne orders Senan to stay behind with Gavin, a navigator (who is secretly a human-fae hybrid and also wants the Fae to reconquer the United Kingdom), to guard the Kelpie while he leads the others to Roy’s castle.
When they are alone, Gavin casts a spell to reveal that Senan is half-sylph (which involves his left eye turning grey, his ears changing shape, and him growing a pair of wings that he can make appear and reappear at will) and then abandons him to be found by Black Roy.
(Side note: InSongs of the Mariners,Gavin is introduced as Senan’s ill-tempered, bullying rival, but he evolves into the main antagonist over the course of theSongs of the Land and Seatetralogy. He is the son of a fae king and wants to reclaim his royal birthright. I thought it would be fun to make the “long lost heir who is fighting to get their throne back” trope character the villain instead of the hero.)
Senan escapes after calling out to the aforementioned mermaid he befriended earlier (whose name is Mairead) for help. He reunites with the rest of his shipmates and they defeat Black Roy and Captain Tremayne together. After this final battle, they return to the Scottish mainland, shaken but resilient. Senan knows that he wants to go on another sailing adventure with his friends.
The climax playing out in the way that it does shows that Senan has grown in a positive way. In spite of how devastated he was by Captain Tremayne and Gavin’s betrayal after he placed his faith in them, he does not relapse into his previously untrusting ways. Rather, Senan retains his trust in and platonic love of Mairead and his friends, asks for their help and works together with them to win the final battle.
7. Seventh Assignment (Setting):Songs of the Marinerstakes place on the ocean in a bygone era, and is more similar toPirates of the Caribbean thanMaster and Commander. I am striving less for the historical accuracy of the latter and more for the eerie, rip-roaring, epic, mythical adventure of the former.
As such, Senan and his shipmates encounter real creatures like sharks, whales, and giant squid along with fae, mermaids, kelpies (hypnotically beautiful carnivorous water-horses), sea serpents,cait sith(soul-stealing magical cats), and ghost sailors and their ships.
Songs of the Marinerstakes place during the 19th century because that was the heyday of the nautical folk music that features so heavily in the book. It opens in Portland, Maine, and that is where Senan meets Captain Tremayne and his crew and joins them. They then sail to a (fictional) unoccupied island off the coast of Maine, and from there to Edinburgh, Scotland and its surrounding waters and islands.
Much of the story takes place on the Atlantic Ocean and on Captain Tremayne's schooner, theKelpie. In addition to being their primary means of transportation, the Kelpie is the mariners' home and where they eat, sleep, and enjoy each others’ company.
New York Pitch Assignments - June 2022
in New York Write to Pitch 2023 and 2024
Posted
Songs of the Mariners (Upper Middle Grade Historical Fantasy)
1. First Assignment (Story Statement):
Get off the streets and aid the Captain in his efforts to defeat pirates and sea monsters and make the ocean safer for everyone.
2. Second Assignment (Antagonist):
The two main antagonists of Songs of the Mariners are pirate Captain Black Roy and privateer Captain Arthur Tremayne.
Black Roy is a sylph, or air fae. He hates humans and lives in an island castle north of Scotland, killing or driving away all humans who trespass in his territory. He wants to reconquer the United Kingdom and Ireland for his race. Black Roy is a powerful magic-user and can call the winds. He has wings and can turn invisible while flying. He commands demons with a cat o’nine tails made from bones.
On the surface, Arthur Tremayne is a valiant and skilled sea captain. Respected by his peers, he is a sorcerer who uses magic potions and hunts the most brutal pirates and collects the rewards for their capture. Tremayne acts benevolent towards his crew, but he also has a manipulative way of needling them about their insecurities and reminding them how lost they would be without him.
Tremayne is also secretly a water fae who shares Black Roy's goal. He is using his human crew as guinea pigs to see how well they can fight against other humans with the potions he has developed instead of modern human weapons.
3. Third Assignment (Breakout Title): Songs of the Mariners (Part One of the Songs of the Land and Sea tetralogy).
I chose the title Songs of the Mariners because of the strong emphasis on music in the book. Each chapter contains a lyric from a nautical folk song that is relevant to the content of the chapter in some way. I wanted to show how music influences the characters and colors their experiences and process their emotions. The music helps give story and its setting depth and culture.
I wanted this book and series to have a fairytale-like, operatic feel, and I think that the title Songs of the Mariners helps show that.
Alternate title options: The Mariner's Tale; Tales of the Mariners
4. Fourth Assignment (Comparable Titles):
Because Songs of the Mariners is historical and fantasy mashup, I have chosen one comparable title from each of those genres.
A. The Traitor's Blade (Book Five of The Blackthorn Key series) by Kevin Sands (Aladdin Books, 2021). Historical Fiction.
B. Deeplight by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2019). Dark fantasy.
I adore The Blackthorn Key series because of its earnest, plucky-yet-still-vulnerable and relatable protagonist, enjoyable and interesting setting, heartwarming ride-or-die friendships, and dark yet neither bleak nor senselessly violent story. I made an effort to give Songs of the Mariners all of those things as well, so I think that people who enjoy The Blackthorn Key series may also find Songs of the Mariners to be within their tastes.
Meanwhile, Deeplight by Frances Hardinge is a work of high fantasy with beautifully scary sea monsters. I really like fantasy books that are deeply emotional and make the reader empathize with the characters and get into their heads. This book is no exception to that, and I hope that I managed to give Songs of the Mariners those qualities, too.
I think that the target audience for these books are readers in grades 5-8 or 9 or thereabouts, and that’s what I am aiming for as well.
5. Fifth Assignment (Hook Line with Conflict and Core Wound):
A malnourished homeless boy, abandoned by his mother and desperate for work and shelter, joins a crew of magician-sailors to battle pirates and monsters on the high seas.
6. Sixth Assignment (Protagonist's Inner Conflict and Secondary Conflict):
Thirteen-year-old Senan's inner conflict is that he wants to be self-reliant, but he also wants to be a useful part of a community. He feels that he is basically worthless as he is and wants to prove that he isn't. He also has a hard time trusting others and especially with asking for help.
For instance, if Senan were to be stung by a sea urchin while walking on a beach with his shipmates and looking for shellfish to eat, he would insist on taking care of the wound alone. He would rather be left behind by the group to take care of himself than feel like he was being a burden and slowing everyone down.
These feelings stem from his mother's abandonment of him and of his father choosing alcohol abuse and violence over his family. Senan also spent a short time working at a mine and was unable to do the work that was expected of him. Other workers had to pick up the slack for him, which made Senan feel very ashamed and guilty.
Senan's character arc in Songs of the Mariners has to do with him learning that trust is a two-way street. If he wants his shipmates to see him as reliable and trustworthy and be part of their crew, he must trust them and ask for their help when he needs it. He also has to keep his heart open and not assume that he can't trust anyone he meets right off the bat.
At the beginning of the story, Senan is homeless and unable to find work to support himself. Senan's desires to escape this life and be self-reliant (but also a useful part of a community) are what compel him to join Captain Tremayne’s crew in Maine. He agrees to help them hunt down a pirate ship off the North American coast. When they defeat these pirates, they acquire a map from them that reveals the location of Black Roy. They decide to sail across the Atlantic and go after him.
During this voyage, Senan bonds with his shipmates and comes to trust them like a family and feel accepted as a mariner. But these feelings of self-acceptance are threatened when he encounters some mermaids (one of whom he befriends) and learns that he may have fae blood.
Unfortunately for Senan, the duplicitous Captain Tremayne figured out that Senan has mixed heritage before he did. He told his crew that he is leading them to Black Roy’s island to defeat him, but his real plan is to deliver Senan to Black Roy.
Senan is half-sylph and half human. If Black Roy kills him, he will receive a dark blessing from the demon lord Balor. Balor hates humans and human-fae hybrids and will give great demonic power to a fae who kills a human-fae hybrid child. But only if that child is half whatever type of fae the killer is (e.g. a sylph like Black Roy must kill a half-sylph like Senan).
7. Seventh Assignment (Setting):Songs of the Mariners takes place on the ocean in a bygone era, and is more similar to Pirates of the Caribbean than Master and Commander. I am striving less for the historical accuracy of the latter and more for the eerie, rip-roaring, epic, mythical adventure of the former.
As such, Senan and his shipmates encounter real creatures like sharks, whales, and giant squid along with fae, mermaids, kelpies (hypnotically beautiful carnivorous water-horses), sea serpents, cait sith (soul-stealing magical cats), and ghost sailors and their ships.
Songs of the Mariners takes place during the 19th century because that was the heyday of the nautical folk music that features so heavily in the book. It opens in Portland, Maine, and that is where Senan meets Captain Tremayne and his crew and joins them. They then sail to a (fictional) unoccupied island off the coast of Maine, and from there to Edinburgh, Scotland and its surrounding waters and islands.
Much of the story takes place on the Atlantic Ocean and on Captain Tremayne's schooner, the Kelpie. In addition to being their primary means of transportation, the Kelpie is the mariners' home and where they eat, sleep, and enjoy each others’ company.
Thank you for reading.