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Here’s the whole story so far, in chronological order with times (set to Jakarta): 1 August. 8am Sun. Pain. I cracked open my eyes and saw land. ‘Sol!’ I said. ‘CAPTAIN Sol,’ she said – and crumpled.   ‘We’re saved,’ I said. ‘Right? SOL!’   9am Sol awoke. She sat up, unsticking her tarred hairContinue reading “Companion to Day Twenty: Story so far”

8:30am Sol cheated at lessons, using magic to bend the swords – then the teacher. Luckily Oldy was a healer. ‘Kindly stop breaking arms,’ he said.   6:30pm ‘Wanna be free?’ Li asked. I said, ‘Sol already freed me.’ She hauled on a sail. ‘Do you really think that?’ I tied a knot. ‘Don’t you?’Continue reading “Companion to Day Nineteen: Oldy interview”

8:30am ‘But you ARE a girl,’ I said. ‘No I ain’t.’ ‘Don’t the men know?’ ‘Coz it ain’t true,’ she said, and picked her nose at me. I gave up.   5:30pm ‘Li’s a girl,’ I told Oldy. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, ‘she’ll be fine.’ ‘How could anyone know that?’ He smiled, ‘I’m much olderContinue reading “Companion to Day Eighteen: Girl Pirates Part Two”

8:30am A man muttered something to his crewmates while Sol was out of sight. I crept up and grabbed his arm. He shrieked – EXACTLY like a girl. ____________________________________________________ I know what you’re all thinking: “We SAW Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Carribean 3 – women don’t look like women just because they wearContinue reading “Companion to Day Seventeen: Girl Pirates Part 1”

3:00pm My back and wrists ached. The sword tutor asked, ‘Will this island have women then?’ ‘I suppose.’ He cheered and toasted Sol – with my rum. ——————————————————————- I’ve had precisely one swordfighting lesson, and I know enough to know it takes more than one lesson. And the wrist angles just feel wrong. Sorta likeContinue reading “Companion to Day Sixteen: Swordfighting”

I’ll be writing another twittertale after “Worse Things Happen at Sea”. Some possible features are below for you to say “Yes”, “Maybe” or “Please No!” to. (It should be noted that I may ignore all votes, depending on what ideas work at the time.) Further suggestions are VERY welcome. The length will be between 2Continue reading “Companion to Day Fifteen: Vote”

“Worse Things Happen at Sea” is displayed in a nicer format at textnovel.com (search by the story title and you’ll see it). Each “chapter” is one day, and you can actually read it from begining to end (rather than having to read from the bottom up). You do have to sign up to view it,Continue reading “Companion to Day Fourteen: Textnovel”

A man is dead. This is one of those rare moments when twitter actually helps the story – because nothing else happens until tomorrow. The story dictates a moment of silence.

I think a large number of historians would agree that among the historical pirates (murderers, thieves, cutthroats, and fiends), the worse is Captain Blackbeard. One evening during dinner, he took his pistol from its holster and shot a member of his own crew in the knee, permanently laming him. His explanation was that people wouldContinue reading “Companion to Day Twelve: Blackbeard”

Yep, it’s all on purpose: Oldy (is that even a name?*) is a beggar who gives away food. He’s also someone who knows sailing – but pretended not to know until now. Gee, I wonder what’ll happen next! *No. It’s an abbreviation of “Old Man”.

Captain Sol likes being outside. I really don’t. I may have mentioned that it’s WINDY on board ship. Plus lots of salt in the air. And sometimes rain. With very limited drinking/showering water. I’m not generally fussy about my hair, but filthy things happen at sea. Just imagine itching, stinking, permanently tangled hair filled withContinue reading “Companion to Day Ten: Hair”

YES it is possible to accidentally make a ship go backwards. I know, because I did it on the Young Endeavour. (Angles of wind and so forth – if you turn so the wind is coming toward you, those big white sail thingys do what they’re supposed to do: catch it, and make you goContinue reading “Companion to Day Nine: Book Reviews”

About 60% of new sailors get seasick (more women than men). It usually lasts only two or three days, and then you’re fine (unless the weather changes significantly and rapidly – which, at sea, it does). Captain Sol, Ulandin and Oldy are just lucky they don’t get sick. It’s horrible. If you go below decks,Continue reading “Companion to Day Eight: Seasickness”

You can’t just park a ship. You can anchor it, but you still need at least one or two people keeping watch (apart from anything else, an anchor chain is long and can get twisted if the ship is getting turned around and around for hours. A ship never sleeps. If someone’s always awake onContinue reading “Companion to Day Seven: Sleep”

Hello to all the kids I met today, who invented wonderful stories for me – the handsome prince with bed-wetting issues – the flying dog with a taste for leg of schoolboy, and – the horrifying – but delicious – sludge monster, Jim. —————————————————————————————————- The tropical world of the story is called Rahana. Rahana isContinue reading “Companion to Day Six: Magic”

Before I begin, hello to Leo, Nathan, Michael and Nikki! Like the other interviews, this is conducted by Louise Curtis and plays in real-time (so Louise Curtis magically dropped in on the island pictured at the top of this blog, and ran into a hungry – but rich – Captain Sol). Interview I found Sol wanderingContinue reading “Companion to Day Five: Interview with Captain Sol”

There’s not much to discuss about today’s tweet except to sigh and say, “Young love. . .” Speaking of the young, hello to the kids I met today! Jordan, Sam, Britney, Alexandro (selamat malam!), Thomas and Hazel. Look for “Pirate Flashmob Canberra” on YouTube and hopefully you’ll find the movie of the mob! Let meContinue reading “Companion to Day Four: Videos”

Hello to Dorian, Scott and Hayley who I met today (along with the rest of their classes)! Like Ulandin (the person telling the story of, “Worse Things Happen at Sea”, I love food. Here’s a recipe for soto (Javanese chicken soup) which I invented after eating it at Jakarta airport. Ingredients: 1 Onion Asian spicesContinue reading “Companion to Day Three: Food”

What do you mean by ‘real time’? I mean that if the pirates attack at dawn, the tweet is sent at dawn. If nothing is happening (eg the pirates are asleep), there are no tweets until they wake up/do something interesting. It also means that some tweets will happen at odd hours of the night.Continue reading “Frequently Asked Questions”

If you’re wondering what the island looks like – look up. I based it off the island in the home page photo (although Sol and Ulandin’s perspective is rather different). On to today’s topic. Pirates were infamous for using their wits and sheer bravado as much as their cutlasses at times. In 1719, Captain Rackham’sContinue reading “Companion to Day 2: Tricksy Pirates”