Soo, approximately four/five years ago, I watched the Pirates of the Caribbean film series for the first time. I then wrote a fanfiction (which is on fanfiction.net if anyone wants to read my very cringy early writing) in which I made mention of a character who was the mother of Jack Sparrow.
It gave her a name, Roxanne Sparrow, and a backstory of being a governor's daughter who had fallen in love with Edward Teague (Jack's father) and turned to piracy.
That was it. I never expected to mention her again. Then, when I started writing more for PotC (my oneshots) I did a shit tonne of development on Teague and realised I could use Roxanne in the oneshots too. And then the possibility of giving them a story all to themselves.
Her brief backstory gave me enough to start plotting a longer story with, and my development on Teague made me very interested to see what I could do with these two characters in a longer story.
I was also very drawn to the fact that we know absolutely nothing about the events prior to the first film, so I was completely free from the restrictions of canon with this story. I could go beyond the films lore, I had an incredible amount of creative licence/freedom. I also love the period of history the films are set in, which made the prospect of research and writing in that time period fascinating. All these things combined gave me the idea and the initial burst of inspiration that led to the beginning of the first book.
A Sparrow's Escape was the working title, which I ended up keeping.
The first scene I ever wrote was the one in which Teague meets Roxanne for the first time.
I initially thought the story would be maybe twenty chapters. I am drafting Chapter Twenty Four right now. I'm now estimating roughly thirty-five chapters.
This has been the longest writing project I've ever stuck with and, with a prequel as well as at least one sequel in the plotting stage, I can safely say I'll be writing about these characters for the foreseeable future.
I also want to say a huge thank you to the awesome people here on Wattpad who have been with me as I shared this story.
ShahbanouSheherazade without you and your absolutely invaluable advice on writing for the PotC series, your advice on how to go about developing Teague and all the millions of questions you have so patiently and fabulously answered over the years, this story would not be here. Thank you for always being only a PM away for all my historical needs. <3
MaybelleMourier for being an awesome beta reader, for helping with developing the early stages and being a great reader. For being the reason I didn't delete the whole thing on at least two occasions. <3
JasonMurray29 for being an awesome reader, awesome friend and my go-to person for long, important development discussions. For being the source of many great ideas and the only reason I ever get any plotting done. Your curiosity, contributing and loyal reading are invaluable and for it you have my most heartfelt gratitude. <3
To DaughterOfElrond booklover311921 darvruni ZonderZorg and HaplessDrifter and anyone else who has left comments/ voted/read this story, my most sincere gratitude and appreciation to you. <3
And to my silent readers, you also have my acknowledgement and sincere thanks.
Alsoo, my fabulous cover artist VerityRae I still ADORE the cover and thank you very much for it, though I know you probably won't see this. <3
YOU ARE READING
ASE Series Extras
RandomKind of inspired by GreenScholarTales TBoT Visual Companion and driven by my need to share things outside of the book with my readers, here is a book of extra things about the characters & world of A Sparrow's Escape. HERE THERE BE SPOILERSS.
