Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl as a template for characters' desires

Sometimes we read a story that doesn’t quite hit the mark. Many readers can’t always articulate why it is that a story isn’t as satisfying as it should be, but as an editor, I can tell you that important milestones exist within every story (and every genre) that if they’re not quite ‘there’ then it means that the story falls flat.

I’d like to talk about heroic qualities, and touch on both inner and outer journeys for characters using a film that I’ve loved ever since it came out: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Yes, it’s somewhat silly, and flawed, but what I do believe the writers did well was articulate the main characters’ desires. Each also was the hero of their own story, and each story arc slotted seamlessly in with the others. And most importantly, this film highlights the importance of clearly articulating characters’ desire.

So, let’s go…

Elizabeth Swann is the daughter of Governor Swann, who is in charge of Port Royal. Even though she’s gently bred, she nonetheless yearns for adventure and is a plucky young woman who thinks on her feet. We discover a girl who’s grown up on stories of pirates, and who secretly harbours a desire to experience adventure. Yet she plays the dutiful daughter because that is what society demands. Her initial call to adventure is when as a child she protects the young Will Turner, who is rescued from a shipwreck, and who wears a cursed pirate medallion. She is brave in the face of danger, in sharp contrast to the damsels we often see in film who are the prize and not the ones who claim the prize. Yet she’s not afraid to wield her femininity as a weapon. She is even willing to offer herself up as a prize to Commodore Norrington in order to save the man she loves. Elizabeth shows us a character who despite her apparent vulnerability in a traditionally male-dominated society, is unafraid to give as good as she gets, despite her limitations. Her conflict arises between doing what is expected of her vs following her heart, which is represented in the choice that she makes in whether she will choose a life of security with Norrington or follow her passion and break with tradition by choosing an uncertain life with Turner. A note here on Governor Swann, who bucks the trend of the traditional patriarchal figure who enforces societal norms. He allows his daughter the choice at the end and is concerned for her happiness.

Will Turner is on the standard hero’s quest to find his father, yet his journey to uncover the truth of his past is not smooth. His call to adventure comes when his father sends him a gold medallion, and at a young age he journeys to the Caribbean to find his father. Unknown to him, his father is a ringleader in a pack of pirates fighting over cursed Aztec gold, and he’s been drawn into the heart of this very curse. Employed as a blacksmith’s apprentice with a knack for not only creating fine swords but being a fine swordsman himself, it is clear that he is enamoured with Elizabeth, although she is far about his social station, and theirs would be a most unsuitable match. If it were not for Elizabeth’s kidnapping by the pirates, who mistake her as the scion with the blood who will end their curse, and the fact that Jack Sparrow recognises Will as Bill “Bootstrap” Turner’s son, it is possible that his story would have remained with him crafting swords in Port Royal. Except Sparrow drags him into the adventure, and Will makes startling realisations that horrify him: he is the son of the notorious pirate. And with this he spends most of the film at war with this truth about himself – that there is this wilder side to his nature. He comes fully into himself when he acknowledges his nature, and instead of being the meek blacksmith’s apprentice, he becomes unafraid to take risks and take control of his destiny. While he doesn’t quite gain the closure he desires with regards to his father’s fate, he nonetheless has a better understanding of his place in the world.

Captain Jack Sparrow is perhaps the unluckiest pirate alive, and his existence is filled with one daring escape after the other. He fulfils that delightful grey area of the inveterate trickster who encapsulates both heroic and villainous qualities. Within the story arc of the films it is often through his actions that obstacles are thrown in the path of both protagonist and antagonist, and yet despite his self-serving ways that often are counterproductive to both himself and his allies, he still sets events in motion that are for the good. His desires are clear: he wants to reclaim his ship, the Black Pearl, and he will do anything to attain that goal. The Black Pearl is his prize, his freedom – which is more valuable than gold. It’s these desires of Sparrow that help drive the plot of the film forward and create tension that supports the journeys of Elizabeth, Will and Barbossa.

Captain Barbossa is more than just a one-dimensional villain who rubs his hands in glee. His desire is clear: he wishes to end the curse that sees him endure a shadowy, undead existence, where he is unable to enjoy life’s epicurean pleasures. All he wants is to be able to eat, drink and … well … do the other thing. He is surrounded by opulence, good food, drink, none of which he can taste. He is cursed to sail the Black Pearl through all eternity until he finds that last piece of Aztec gold, which happens to be in Elizabeth’s possession. He needs that medallion and with it spill the blood of Turner. It was through his own greed that he inadvertently sealed his fate when he and his cronies sent Bootstrap to Davy Jones’s locker. Now he has a chance to reclaim his mortality, and his greatest prize, thanks to Will and Elizabeth’s actions. Of course, hijinks ensue, and we end up with a dizzying array of double- and triple crosses.

Where Disney gets this right is that each character is the hero of their own story. If you had to write a book purely from the point of view of any one of these characters, you’d get a perfectly decent story that will no doubt have you at the edge of your seat. Put them all together and balance the tension just right, and you have a beloved, enduring swashbuckling adventure.

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is not perfect, and if you ask me, they should have ended at the third movie, but I do believe that we as authors can learn from how these characters’ desires drive them into conflict with each other as each seeks a prize that is unique to them.

The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker

Some folks learn all the wonderful things about grammar within the hallowed halls of a tertiary institution: I learnt about grammar in the trenches, dug in deep and dirty in newspaper publishing as well as editing piles of books for small presses. Every battle-hardened and weary wordsmith out there will tell you there is more than one way to learn your craft and sharpen your pen, and it's a seemingly never-ending battle against bad grammar and just plain old awful writing.

It's quite possible to ask, do we even need another style manual when there are so many out there, filled with rules and regulations about how you should or should not write? Steven Pinker doesn't think so, and The Sense of Style has been on my radar for a while now.

The problem I have with most style guides is that my eyes glaze over after a few pages and then the book ends up forgotten on a shelf somewhere, making a breeding place for silverfish and dust mites. Not so with The Sense of Style. While Pinker certainly tackles the eye-glazing topic of grammar, he does so in a way that with careful reading (and using his examples) he illustrates how the structure of a sentence works, and also why it's important to understand this. He then goes into how to improve coherence in your writing, and once again, the examples are gold.

He touches also on the tone of our writing – how we must decide whether to use a more relaxed style or remain quite formal, depending on the message and its recipients, whether we're writing a status update on social media or a more formal application for a position at a company. How we use language matters, and often says a lot about us.

In addition, Pinker discusses how language is fluid, how even the greats from the past have broken apparent "rules" (and even where these rules originate). While he is not dogmatic, as some wordsmiths I've encountered are, he will justify any stances he makes. What I take away from this is to be aware of not only the rules but the conventions, and yes, the conventions do shift (like my unfavourite, "literally" as not quite having its literal meaning). He explains why in some cases you should be less of a grammar Nazi, or in the case of "literally", while it still is a good idea to rather not use the word figuratively (due to unintended, somewhat hilarious results).

I found the list of common errors at the end, with their explanations, useful, as well as the glossary. (Can you use affect/effect or lay/lie correctly?) Particularly, his closing line struck me as being profound: "And we can remind ourselves of the reasons to strive for good style: to enhance the spread of ideas, to exemplify attention to detail, and to add to the beauty of the world."

I'm totally down with that. :-) This book has a place in my permanent collection.

Bloody Parchment finalist Dave de Burgh

A big welcome to one of the 2014 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment finalists Dave de Burgh. His short story "Exertion" made the pick during that year's contest.

Pick up your copy of Bloody Parchment: Blue Honey and The Valley of Shadow now, and discover the best of our annual competition's entrants in the dark SFF/H genres.

What darkness lies at the heart of your story?

It may sound trite, but I initially wrote this story after a breakup which I took very badly, so this story helped me to communicate some the anger, frustration and loneliness I was feeling at the time. I guess that’s the darkness at the heart of it – the shock of being betrayed, and how that can lead to anger and, in some cases, vengeance.

What do you love the most about writing?

The thing I love most is an aspect very few people can or even will understand – that ability (which isn’t controlled or focused, just allowed) to explore either the hidden or obvious aspects of what it means to be human: that which makes us act and think and feel the way we do. Creating worlds and writing battle scenes and all that other cool stuff is just a very enjoyable bonus.

Why does reading matter?

Reading matters for many important reasons, but the reasons that reading is so important to me are because I’ve been able to explore different religious and cultural points of view, and reading has also taught me the fact that I will never know enough, nor be an ‘expert’ at anything. Above and beyond the escapism inherent in reading (fiction, at least), reading is one of the most incredibly powerful tools for the advancement and understanding of knowledge which exists.

An excerpt...

When I end and it begins, there is darkness. I don’t know where I am in that darkness, whether I hang or float or stand or lie. I know that I am there and that it is here, behind my heart and eyes and breath.

What other things have you written? 

I’ve written two novels (epic fantasy): Betrayal’s Shadow and Conviction’s Pain, as well as a bunch of short stories. See Tales from the Lake Volume 3, and my story, "A Hand from the Depths" and
The Third Spectral Book of Horror Stories, and my tale, "Static"

Follow Dave-Brendon de Burgh on Twitter or see his website.

Confessions of a Self-Published Author by Christine Porter

Today I hand over my blog to author Christine Porter, a fellow South African author. Welcome, Christine, and take it away!

I’m Christine Porter, and I’m a self-published author.

Four years ago, I would rather have lived on in unpublished obscurity than type those words. Self-publish? Heck no! That’s for people who are kidding themselves. People who lack the talent and skill to land a publisher.

Like many authors, I needed that pat on the back from a professional – someone whose job it is to recognise good writing – to know that my work was worth publishing. Writers tend to be solitary creatures riddled with self-doubt, and I believe many of us shy away from self-publishing because of it. If a publisher doesn’t want us, we must not be good enough.

My distaste for self-publishing is still shared by many, but with self-published books such as The Martian and The Hunger Games trilogy going as far as film adaptations, it’s certainly no longer a form of publishing that can be poo-pooed. Those titles – and many others – are well-written, well-edited and well-produced. They are a far cry from the vanity presses of a decade ago.

My own decision to self-publish came only after Peril Beyond the Waterfall was published electronically in 2011. I was suddenly shackled, not even free to market as I wished. The fact that there was no print version rankled a fair amount too.

I’m not slamming the publisher at all – they did everything that could be expected of a big publisher dealing with a completely unknown author in a completely unknown medium. The book actually sold. I was featured in a couple of publications and scraped in a review or two, but I’ve never been happy at the bottom of the priority list, so when I finally finished my second book, I knew the route I had to take.

I regained my rights from the publisher with very little fuss, and have reproduced and re-released the Peril Beyond the Waterfall that I wanted, with the cover I wanted, and the illustrations I wanted in print. I love this version of Peril. I resented the former.

The decision to self-publish spelled freedom. It’s been an absolute joy working on the project, and meeting like-minded writer types who have walked the same path. It’s far from easy. Every aspect of the book has to be considered, and you don’t have a publisher to think about things for you. You have to take ownership of the entire project and ensure that the quality is high, otherwise you really are no better than vanity-published.

I’m not sure I’m entirely past my distaste for self-publishing. I still feel it’s necessary that people know that I had a publisher, and chose self-publishing despite this. To me, it lends legitimacy. It must also be said that I would not have been able to self-publish four years ago. It takes a significant up-front financial investment, and back then I simply would not have been able to carry the costs. That is why publishers exist. That is where their value lies. In my case, though? I’m enjoying this independent ride much too much to stick my wrists back into the shackles any time soon.

My next title, Night of the Cologoro, is the first that I will be producing entirely independently. The experience I’ve gained and connections I’ve made help immensely. There’s a whole support structure that I didn’t have four years ago. It’s hard work. It really is. But I love it, and I’m excited, and I am going to make it work. Watch me.

Buy your copy of Peril Beyond the Waterfall at Ereads, Amazon, or in print.

Pay It Forward: It Takes a Village to Sell a Book by Paula R Stiles #guest

Today I welcome Paula R Stiles, editor and author... Over to you, Paula!

* * * *

As the editor of an online horror zine and micropress, Innsmouth Free Press, I'm on a lot of social networking sites. Naturally, most people posting on them in the writing field are looking to sell something – namely, books and magazines. Stephen King wrote in his excellent book, On Writing, that any new writer who wants to succeed should build up a peer group of other writers at about the same level, as a mutual cheering squad. I would argue that you also want to hang out with writers far ahead of you and writers just starting out, but his advice, in its basic principle, is sound. Writers are a valuable resource for each other. Too often, it's one we squander.

I often see complaints about writers doing “favors” for each other, as if it's a bad thing. I've been advised not to do reviews (I do them all the time), not to “pimp” myself out for blurbs (I do them all the time, too, if someone asks), not to “like” other writers on Facebook and other venues (Ask me and I'll do it). I see a lot of debate about what constitutes a “meaningful” review, a “good” blurb (Hint: A blurb is not the same thing as a review), whether “liking” someone on Facebook is good promotion or just a high school popularity contest. The simplest, quickest answer to this is: Good promotion is whatever sells your book.

Why should you do these favors for other writers? Aren't they fake? I would argue that no, they are not. Writers interact with two main groups in their audience – other writers and readers. Writers have a direct influence in that they write their own work and are usually more willing to donate money to fundraisers for magazines or buy other writers' books. Readers are like the lurkers on a message board. They don't directly participate, but they influence the conversation by hits on sites, comments on posts, books and magazines that they buy. You want a mix of both and you'll want to talk to both on a regular basis. Writer friends are great and most obvious in their support, but loyal readers are gold.

How do you win over fellow writers? By exchanging favors (more like promotional tasks) with them that you can't do on your own. You're all there to sell books and you don't have to stomp all over the competition to do it. Playing nice is, of course, altruistic and the right thing to do (as your mother would tell you), but it also has practical advantages. It's all very well to complain about that person who is out there hustling books all over the place (Nobody wants to be that jerk who has nothing to contribute but a commercial), but your book does need to get out there and nobody is obligated to put it out but you. Authors who write the thing and then sit back, expecting the world to beat a path to their door, are lazy jerks who are expecting everyone else to do all the work of promoting it. Uh-uh. You're the one it matters to the most. You promote it.

How do you win over readers? By writing great books they want to read, of course, but also by treating your audience well, both fellow writers and readers. You don't have to give in to every demand from your audience, but you shouldn't be a jerk, either. Sure, there are jerks who write well and succeed, but there are a lot of books out there. And your audience can always go with someone who writes just as well as you do, but who isn't a jerk.

Group promotion is especially important for anyone outside of the main publishing industry. I don't just mean the big New York publishers. I mean anyone outside of the United States. Canada and Britain are fairly well-connected to the American publishing industry, albeit not in a way that favors regional or ethnic authors very well, but Australia, China, India, Africa? Not so much. In fact, one could say that these regions are almost invisible to American audiences unless they shout – and individual writers need a collective voice for that, even in this day and age of the Internet.

Finally, in light of all the recent kerfuffle about “bought” reviews and reviews by “friends” (or self reviews, which are ultimately just mental masturbation), when is a review “meaningful”? Readers rate this differently from writers who write the review or read one for their own book. Writers need exposure. They need to get the word out, but they're up against a thousand other books with the same problem.

Readers, meanwhile, just want to know what there is to read and whether your book is worth checking out. Whether or not the review is “nice” is beside the point to them (So, guess what? Writing a nasty review about a competitor's work to sabotage them will only backfire on you). Think how you determine what you want to read. Do you use a review that is always positive and upbeat, or do you use a review (negative or not) that tells you what you want to see in a book? The answer is the latter.

A positive review makes a writer feel better, but an informative review, positive or negative, sells the book. Some readers even prefer harsh reviews because they provide more detailed information that the reviewer marshals to make his/her points about the book. Just because the reviewer didn't like it doesn't mean a reader checking out the review will feel the same way. And uninformative negative reviews of the “It sucks!” variety tend to be just ignored. So, a review that makes you go, “Ouch!” can still sell your book. Keep that in mind the next time you see a critical review and then stifle your angry retort. That reviewer is doing you a favor.

BIO
Paula R Stiles is a random citizen of the world who has sold SF, fantasy and horror to Strange Horizons, Writers of the Future, Jim Baen’s Universe, Arkham Tales, and History is Dead, among others. She also has published a cowritten mystery/SF novel, Fraterfamilias, and a non-fiction book of medieval history, Templar Convivencia: Templars and Their Associates in 12th and 13th Century Iberia. She edits the Lovecraftian online zine and micropress, Innsmouth Free Press, for her sins (which are many). Her urban fantasy novel, The Mighty Quinn, has recently been unleashed by Dark Continents onto the world. Your latest flu shot won't help. You can find and berate her at: http://thesnowleopard.net.

Screaming Yellow with Rachel Green

When I was offered the opportunity to work on Rachel Green's Screaming Yellow, I jumped at the chance. Nominally playing fly-on-the-wall in and around Cape Town's BDSM and fetish scene, and being privileged to be on first-name basis with some of our city's more interesting personalities, I looked forward to working on fiction offering themes I'm familiar with. On top of that, who can resist the unholy alliance of a witch teaming up with a Catholic priest to solve a murder?

What I've enjoyed about Rachel's setting is how well realised not only the place is – true British eccentricity and charm all rolled into one – but the characters. Although everything about Laverstone is fictional, it still had me hitting Google. It just has to be real, I told myself.

Screaming Yellow is a novel I can fully recommend. Even though, as editor, I've lost count of how many times I've read through it, I always find some other small detail to have a quiet chuckle about, passages where the author paints characters or bits of dialogue that remain with me. Who'd have thought a small town could play host to a gloriously decadent cast of characters, where a bit of bondage, needle play and polyamory are the order of the day?

So, without further ado, I welcome Rachel to my world, to share a little about hers.

Why Laverstone? Tell us about your town.

Laverstone has been building, location by location, for the last six or seven years. It is a small (fictional) town in the south of England, bordered on the east by a range of hills and in the north by the M4 motorway. To the west and south are chalk downs. It first came into being as the setting for my novel, An Ungodly Child, and has grown slowly every time I add another tale to the mythos. Laverstone is a sort of Glastonbury without the head shops.

Have you had any real-life experiences creep into your writing?

Always. The kinky sections of Screaming Yellow were all based on personal experience and expertise, as was the polyamory and the social mechanics of The Larches. I've written non-fiction about BDSM and my partners and I have taught workshops on techniques. In the other books the fight and sword scenes are all as realistic as I can make them. I am a trained swordswoman and practice jiu-jitsu and budo. The dogs are used to me choreographing scenes with sword or werewolf-repellent silver-topped cane.

Which one of your characters would you have high tea with, and what would you discuss with them... Or do with them?

High tea? There's a phrase I haven't heard since childhood. My first answer is Jasfoup, of course, and I would discuss the nature of Fallen Angels with him, but he only has a bit part in Screaming Yellow so I'd pick Inspector White and take him to the Philadelphia on Old Oxford Street, a little past Meinwen's witchery shop on Knifesgate. He must have some tales to tell, don't you think?

Who are your favourite authors and what is it about their writing that excites you?

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen are, in my opinion, the finest humorists in print. There isn't a book of theirs I don't pre-order as soon as I can. I've learned a great deal from them both in terms of character, pace and setting.

Iain Banks and Kate Atkinson share similar fields of excellence in their writing. Characters and attention to detail within individual lines. These people don't just write, they compose.

Finally, Agatha Christie. What a marvellous lady. I'd read everything by her by the time I was 12. From her I got the love of the mystery, the chase, the clue and the sheer delight in (literary) murder. Miss Marple is lauded in Screaming Yellow, and Laverstone boasts a public building named in her honour.

What sparked off Screaming Yellow? Was it an a-ha moment or a concept that slowly crept up on you?

It began as an attempt to write a non-paranormal novel. Laverstone is full of ordinary people and I wanted to reflect this in a way that would appeal to those with no interest in demons and vampires. I was also fed up with the way BDSM is portrayed in literature as a bad thing – an immoral, "sinful" pleasure that should be punished. I wanted to show it in a positive light and highlight the love between dominant and submissive personalities. It amused me to have a Catholic priest as a main character. I was raised Catholic.

I also wrote the first draft in a month and asked some friends in the scene to look it over. They seemed happy with it and so I tried to place it. It sat for a few years until a publisher was interested "if I took out all the BDSM". I did but they wanted me to take out the polyamory too, which was integral to the plot. Fortunately, Lyrical Press liked all the sex.

Tell us more about your creative process. Where do you work? Are there any good habits for writers?

I write at home, on a desktop PC and start every day with a series of four poems – a cinquain, a haiku, a takna and a Fib – which I post on my livejournal (friends only but happy to add readers). I catch up online (newspapers and blogs) and write 2-500 words on an ongoing novel at jasfoup.blogspot.com. Later in the day I post a long-form poem (I send these to magazines and anthologies and occasionally publish a chap book) and write for whatever short story or novel I'm currently working on. I walk my dogs and pet my family often. My tip for writing is to have a hobby that's not writing.

Useful links:

My homepage (also includes artwork) http://www.leatherdyke.co.uk/
My Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0043VKG6U
My livejournal: http://leatherdykeuk.livejournal.com/
Jasfoup's Blog: http://jasfoup.blogspot.com/