Wordsmith's Forge

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Starting the story mid-battle is perfect, gets readers right into the action and we find out who the characters are by their actions during the conflict.

My idea is that the ship being attacked is led by an engineer on his way to debut a new creation at the fourth international world fair, something he's been extremely proud of and is keeping very hush-hush.

Cue the attack, him and his crew are taken prisoner and all the cargo is pilfered. The invention is tossed in a box and forgotten about since the pirates have no idea what it is and are more interested in valuables.

The engineer despite loathing the pirate captain, attempts to get into her good graces for both the sake of his crew and to get the prototype back.

Pirate/bounty hunters, law enforcement and a shadowy cabal intent on getting the device could serve as the main sources of danger.

And of course thrilling adventures ensue and along the way both leads grow to respect/trust each other which leads to unlikely romance. (Do I smell a best seller?)