How Pirates of the Caribbean Made Me A Better Writer
The three writing tips I learned from this amazing franchise!
If you’ve been around this site for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I like movies a lot. I’ve reviewed everything from Newsies and Singin’ In The Rain to EPIC: The Musical (which technically isn’t a movie, but I still love it anyway!). And about a month ago, when I was putting together ideas for the next Substack posts, I thought to myself, “I haven’t written about Pirates of the Caribbean yet, have I?”
In case you haven’t watched them (or haven’t seen all of them), Pirates of the Caribbean is a five-movie franchise about pirate Jack Sparrow, rich Elizabeth Swann, and blacksmith Will Turner, roaming the high seas of the Caribbean, defeating villains and thinking like pirates. There’s also a fair bit of romance (let’s just say Elizabeth has a lot of admirers), sword fighting and guns, and adult substances, so I’d recommend them for 13+.
But while I love watching PITC, this franchise has shaped me as a writer too! In this post, I’ll talk about 3 things that Pirates of the Caribbean taught me to use in my writing.
Note: This post will have spoilers for the entirety of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, so if you don’t want to get spoiled, be careful from this point on!
#1: You can write great prologues: The Curse of the Black Pearl (PITC #1)
If you’ve watched the first movie, you know the first scene starts with young Elizabeth and young Will as Elizabeth’s ship is crossing the ocean from England to the Caribbean. The ship is stuck in an unearthly fog, and a few of the men begin talking about the rumors they’ve heard that there are pirates on the high seas. Suddenly Elizabeth notices a boy floating in the water, unconscious. As she helps bring him aboard, the rest of the sailors see a burning ship with a pirate’s flag attached to it. Elizabeth is instructed by her father to keep an eye on the boy, who wakes up suddenly and tells her that his name is Will Turner. As he sinks back into unconsciousness, Elizabeth notices a gold medallion with a pirate emblem around Will’s neck. She takes the necklace.
This creates questions in the viewer’s brain. Where does Will come from? What happened to the burning ship, and who was in it? Why does Will have the pirate medallion? And what will happen now that Elizabeth has it?
All of this was conveyed in three to four minutes of film, and, in my opinion, it’s one of the best prologues I have ever watched. It not only hooks the person to keep watching, but creates stakes immediately. It sets up:
that pirates exist
Will and Elizabeth’s relationship
uncertainty about Will
various character arcs (like Mr. Gibbs’ transformation from sailor to pirate)
When I started writing my book at 13 years old, I didn’t include a prologue — partly because I had never written a book and partly because I didn’t know my characters well enough yet. But in my second draft, I’ve added a prologue. The main difference between the PITC prologue and my own prologue is that mine is a flash-forward instead of a flashback.
The main thing I’m trying to emulate with my prologue is a change in relationship. The prologue in PITC starts Will and Elizabeth’s relationship (and later love story), while my prologue shows the relationship between my main character and his cousin. When Chapter 1 begins after the prologue, the relationship between the two is in pieces. But because the reader knows the characters will work it out, they’ll be excited to see how the relationship changes throughout the series.
Prologues matter. Yes, you don’t have to include them, but they can be a crucial part of a story. We wouldn’t root for Elizabeth and Will if the prologue hadn’t shown how much Elizabeth cared for him right off the bat.
#2: Foreshadowing is a must: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man’s Chest (PITC # 1 and 2)
When I was rewatching The Curse of the Black Pearl, I suddenly noticed all the foreshadowing that comes into play in Dead Man’s Chest, specifically when it comes to Will and his father. Because Jack and Will have a few one-on-one conversations before the main action in the first movie begins, we learn that Will’s mother died in England and his father disappeared while they traveled from England to the Caribbean. Jack chimes in with the revelation that he knew Will’s father, William “Bootstrap Bill” Turner, who was a pirate.
Later in the same movie, when Will is trapped in Barbossa’s ship as they head for the Isla de Muerta, we get more backstory about Will’s father. He was a pirate on Barbossa’s ship that was strapped to a lit cannon and condemned to death for giving Will the gold medallion. But because Barbossa’s ship was cursed, Bootstrap is still alive, which we see in more detail in Dead Man’s Chest.
Using foreshadowing is one of my favorite writing skills, so it was exciting to see such good foreshadowing in the first movie! When you’re writing a series, you have to know what to include in the first book and what to save for later WHILE making it a cohesive story from beginning to end. It’s a complicated process, but these movies reminded me that if you can pull it off, it definitely makes the story more interesting.
#3: A Big Cast Is Okay (literally all of the PITC movies)
If you took the time to count how many well developed characters are in The Curse of the Black Pearl, I’d say there are more than the usual four (Jack, Elizabeth, Will, and Barbossa.). Commodore Norrington, Mr. Gibbs, Governor Swann, and even the monkey have very clear motivations and needs for the entire movie, which makes the plot way more interesting than if it was just centered around the main four.
I have eight characters in my main “squad”, as I like to call it. We meet seven of them in the first book, and with that many people, it can get chaotic.
Yet as people cycle in and out of the Pirate movies, it never feels forced or pushed. We don’t get any insight that Davy Jones exists except for one line in The Curse of the Black Pearl, and then, BOOM! Turns out he’s been there the whole time, and he has revenge to take on Jack Sparrow. And as soon as we meet him, we can tell he’s a truly terrifying villain, and we don’t question it. (Although I could question the tentacle beard he has, because that’s pretty creepy.)
Watching these movies again has reminded me of how complex a world it is. You obviously can’t show everybody who ever existed or it would be way too long of a book or movie. So while it’s good to have a big cast, you have to find a balance. My book has important characters that aren’t part of the whole book but have influence on the main group, which makes the story more realistic. People come and go in our real life, and PITC did such a good job showing it!
The Pirate movies have been around for such a long time, but they still have a lasting impact on everyone that watches (or rewatches them). They were popular because the writers knew exactly what good storytelling means: being able to successfully manipulate reality long enough to get sucked into the story.
These three tips from the Pirate movies have influenced my writing ever since I watched them, and they’ve been so helpful in my writing journey. Have you watched the PITC movies? Which one is your favorite? Do you have a writing tip you noticed while watching any of them? I’d love to hear your responses, so put a comment down below!
If you liked this post, why not stick around?
Interested in learning about my story? Try my first ever Character Profile, where I interview my main character!
Want to know more about my writing process? See how I make details part of a character here.
Want more deep dives into film? Check out my Newsies review!
Thank you for reading The Kindness Cafe! Please subscribe to receive new posts and support my journey!
Disclaimer: if you are under the age of 18, please get parental permission before subscribing.