William C. Hammond – Renewing America’s Seafaring Heritage
Quarterdeck, November 2012, used with permission
AMERICA’S rich seafaring heritage comes alive in William C. Hammond’s epic Cutler Family Chronicles, a fictional series set against the backdrop of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The award-winning Chronicles, which feature the Cutler family of Hingham, Massachusetts, debuted in 2007 with the publication of
A Matter of Honor. The novel introduces young Richard Cutler, who comes of age during the American Revolution.
A Matter of Honor was followed by
For Love of Country in 2010 and
The Power & the Glory in 2011. This month the fourth title in the series –
A Call to Arms – will be launched by the Naval Institute Press.
The Chronicles recount the founding days of the United States Navy and feature a broad cast of characters, including historical figures, such as Captains John Paul Jones, Edward Preble, Thomas Truxtun, and Silas Talbot, Lieutenants Stephen Decatur and Richard Sommers, and British Admirals Sir Hyde Parker and Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson.
Quarterdeck recently interviewed the Minnesota-based author:
What led you to writing in the first place?
I grew up in a literary family. My grandmother was a bibliophile of the highest order and surrounded herself with books wherever she went. She always gave books at Christmas to me and my two sisters. My uncle, a professor of English at Yale, was a voracious reader, as was my mother. I credit them for my love of books and my keen desire to someday be an author.
Is the Cutler Family Chronicles your first entry into writing fiction? What was the genesis for the novels?
No, my first entry into writing fiction was in my mid-twenties, when I lived in Maine with my uncle, and I wrote a novel about fourteenth century Plantagenet England and the Hundred Years’ War. I learned a lot during those eighteen months about the discipline and complexities of writing – and of course it was great fun living with Lance in such a lovely place – but fortunately for American letters that novel was never published. My interest in, and passion for, reading and writing historical novels never left me, however, and at the age of fifty I decided to again cast my fate to the wind and started doing research for
A Matter of Honor.
Considering today's market, was it difficult to find a publisher?
It has always been difficult for a debut novelist to find a publisher, and it is especially difficult in today’s publishing industry. Since mainstream publishers don’t know what the future holds for them, they are not investing in young (in terms of experience) authors the way they used to when I entered the industry in 1975. So what we are left with today is essentially “celebrity publishing,” in which mainstream publishers only publish books that have a national “platform” and can all but guarantee them a profit. Of course, there are many excellent smaller royalty-based publishers, but the marketplace is flooded with book proposals and it’s often hard to get their attention. I am fortunate to have a very good agent.
What drew you to nautical fiction, as opposed to another genre?
I grew up on Cape Ann in Massachusetts and learned to sail at a very young age. I love sailing and I love the sea. In addition to sailing I fished twenty-five lobster traps off the coast of Manchester. When after college I began working for Little Brown as a sales rep, I started reading the Hornblower novels, all of which were distributed in the US by Little Brown. What a launching pad that turned out to be!
As your fourth novel is launched, do you consider writing to be your vocation?
I do consider writing my vocation, although not just because of writing my own novels. I am also a ghostwriter (which is more remunerative) and have a number of clients for whom I am writing original material or doing heavy developmental editing on text already written. My dream is to someday live comfortably on my own novels and on Social Security, but today that dream remains exactly that, a dream.
Your new novel, A Call to Arms, once again follows the Cutler family to sea? How far ahead have you planned the series?
Two more books are planned in the series. The fifth volume, the first draft of which I am soon to complete, will focus on the troubled years (both for the country and for the Cutler family) between the end of the First Barbary War (the backdrop of
A Call to Arms) and the start of the War of 1812. The sixth and final volume will focus exclusively on the War of 1812 and will (I trust) tie up all lose ends for readers.
Your novels capture the surroundings in which you place your characters. What inspirations do you use to create these moments and events?
In certain cases, memories. Over the years I have visited a number of the places I write about in the novels. Where I haven’t been, I can get a good sense of a place through photographs and information off of the Internet and in travel books. For example, a lavish picture book on eighteenth century London published a few years ago by David Godine has served me well.
Do you have a particular approach to researching your novels? Do you maintain a research library?
In researching I do a lot of reading, including original texts such as the log John Paul Jones kept on Bonhomme Richard. I have also been to a number of maritime museums, primarily in New England, and I have been aboard USS Constitution, for example, perhaps twenty times. I don’t tend to travel far afield, however, especially after I start work on a manuscript. Travel can be fun and interesting and informative; it can also be time-consuming and an expensive form of pencil- sharpening.
Please describe how you approach writing your novels.
I suspect that my approach is somewhat different from many other writers. I arise each morning between four and five o’clock (for me, the best time of the day), make coffee, putter around the kitchen to get the blood flowing and my eyes focusing. After reviewing the night’s accumulation of emails, I start in editing the work I had done the previous morning. On some mornings that is all I do. I cannot go on to new text until I am satisfied (for the moment, at least) with what is already written. I impose no minimum word count, no page count, no nothing. What is, is. There are mornings when I spend my entire allotted time on one descriptive paragraph, until I’m convinced I have it right. In sum, therefore I write only one draft. After the draft is finished I edit it, of course, many times over. But I have never felt the necessity to re-write a manuscript per se.
What have been the greatest influences to this point in your writing career?
Certainly the sea has had a major influence. Growing up on the ocean, being on the ocean whenever possible, and reading about the ocean have been pursuits of mine since I can remember. Also, as a child I stuttered. Since I was challenged by the spoken word, I was determined to excel in the written word. Winning several writing prizes while in high school helped set my compass course.
What comes next in your writing? Have you considered writing about other historical periods for your fiction?
I’m not sure what I will work on next after I finish the sixth and final volume of the Cutler Family Chronicles. I want to write a book for my three sons that chronicles the first six years of my marriage to their mother, before we had children. Victoria passed on from cancer last year and her loss has been hard to bear. That book, of course, is meant just for family. But who knows, there may be a way to expand that into another book that has a wider audience. It would be a wonderful way to honor her memory. And as she would want me to do, I will get back to historical fiction and/or nonfiction at some point, assuming my weak vision holds out.
Please describe where you write.
Nothing exotic here, I'm afraid. We have a small study off our kitchen in Minneapolis, and that serves as my quarterdeck. A PC on a desk, no telephone, piles of books everywhere, research notes catalogued in some fashion or other – in other words, a typical writer's lair. It's where I feel most comfortable, and it's near the coffee maker, which, for those early morning hours, is an obvious benefit.
Is there one moment that stands out in your writing career?
I suppose that moment would have to be the day I signed my first contract, an act that carried with it a handsome (to me) royalty advance. I was actually going to be paid for doing what I love to do! The next best moment was when I signed a publishing contract with the Naval Institute Press, after my original publisher decided to suspend operations in early 2009. NIP is truly a wonderful publisher.
When you're not researching, what do you like to read for pleasure? What are your other avocations?
What I read for pleasure is quite eclectic. There are certain modern authors I enjoy, such as Pat Conroy and Philippa Gregory, and of course there are many modern writers of historical/nauti cal fiction whom I admire. And I enjoy going back to the novels of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Faulkner, and such timeless classics as The Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace. So it really is all over the map. When I’m not reading or writing, I enjoy a good walk around a lake and perhaps a sail upon the lake. I have two sons living with me, and spending time with them is always a special occasion.
Do you read your own work after it is published? Do you have a favorite nautical fiction title or series written by others?
I do read my own work after it’s published. I really have to in order to ensure I am carrying forward the right material (e.g., physical attributes, subplots, any sort of loose end) into future books. I realize that the books written by Patrick O’Brian are many people’s favorite nautical fiction series, but I’m still partial to C. S. Forester.
What do you think about e-books and electronic readers like Kindle or Nook?
I’m an old print guy and I prefer the tactile feel of paper to a screen. The printed book truly is wonderful technology! But I totally “get” why people like e-readers, and from an author’s perspective, it’s wonderful for a customer to be able to make a buying decision on the spot and access the content within minutes. And with my weakening vision I know I will have to succumb to an e-reader sooner rather than later. When I do, I know I’ll be happy I did, and I will chastise myself for waiting so long!
Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Only that I am very grateful for the praise and encouragement I have received from readers in this country and from around the world. These emails serve as great motivation to get up before dawn each morning and attend to my craft. I hope that in the immediate and more distant future I am able to please readers to the extent they tell me I have so far.
Perhaps unwittingly – although probably not – the Plantagenet king had opened wide a treasure trove of opportunity and profit for the private sector and for the Royal Exchequer. Throughout the Middle Ages enterprising English sea captains operated with the tacit understanding of their king if not his outright commission in harassing the maritime trade of offending nation-states. Things reached a fever pitch when privateers such as Sir Francis Drake seized Spanish ships laden with gold and silver on their return voyage from South America and the Spanish Main. Queen Elizabeth I was only too happy to accept this Midas touch and share in the bounty of the captured treasure and subsequent sale of the seized vessel, its value determined by newly developed Admiralty Courts (also known as “prize courts”). The privateer’s captain and crew all received a share based on rank, so everyone was happy – except, of course, the captain and crew of the captured vessel and the Court of King Phillip II of Spain. His displeasure led ultimately to the defeat of the Spanish Armada, one of most colossal and humiliating defeats in military history. 
