Young Writers Society

I have been thinking about writing a pirate novel, but I am afraid of falling into one of the many cliches of the "pirate" world without being conscious of it. So, my question is, what are the cliches of the pirate novel?

Several that I have noticed include:
-Constant use of "Arrr/Arghh"
-Parrots
-the hero is often a boy or man that through his interaction with the pirates, learns to reject them and their morals, and becomes their enemy
-the captain of the ship is usually the undisputed leader, and leads the ship without regard to his crew


What other cliches are there?

Um...the line "Ahoy, matey"?

Ooooh, pirates. I loff pirates. I started a pirate novella a couple years ago. It was about a female pirate though, so I had to do a lot of research to help compensate for that.

So... a cliche to watch out for would be female pirates. *nods*

It depends on what time period, and I'd definitely recommend researching as much as you can to get a feel for the environment. Female pirates were typically not known. They usually dressed as men if they went at all, but it was believed to be a curse to have a woman on board.

That's another thing! Look up sailor/pirate legends and myths. Those curses and things are very lovely to have, but it's also dangerous for authors to go overboard. Make their beliefs realistic, but there are sailing tricks of the trade and superstitions that were most definitely believed true back then.

That's all I've got off the top of my head, so research, research, and research some more. Wikipedia is a nice start, and definitely google what you can. You'll find a ton of information, and you'll narrow the setting down to the very minute detail.

Possibly have a bunch of upper class really gentlemanly pirates with stiff British accents and a love of tea. xD Ahoy my good sir! Would you like another cup of tea with your scones before we murder you and loot your ship?

If I remember correctly, pirates had quite a strict code of conduct. It was mainly penalties for wrongdoing. Anyway, perhaps you could try searching "pirate code" on the web and see what comes up.

Oooh!! Have a plot that doesn't have to do with just searching for treasure. I mean, there's gotta be treasure involved, but that can't be the main plot. Having pirates trying to escape a curse is also probably a bit overused.