What would you expect to find in a novel about Pirates...

First word I thought of was "Swashbuckling." I'd maybe like a bit of meta irony too, sort of like that film "Six Days Seven Nights". Or the "Monkey Island" games!

Ships are overused . Also, pirates saying "arrr", and having parrots. Things that I do like are the pirate treasures. And mermaids! On the other hand, I don't think cliches should be avoided when writing about Pirates. I think the overall impression is important more than the little details. I mean, if you just focus on removing the cliches, that doesn't automatically make a great story...

a lot of booty jokes about booty not treasure

Depends on the tone you're going for. Murdering and enslaving everyone on a peaceful merchant ship would certainly make them more piratey, but that wouldn't be very Pirates of the Caribbeany if that was closer to what you're going for.

There aren't really that many fantasy novels focused on pirates out there, at least that I've been able to find, so there isn't much that's "overused". One thing that drives me crazy in most novels focused on sailing ships is over-description of the mechanics of sailing. Even though I understand most of it from my own research, it's still super-boring to read and would just confuse 95% of readers with all the strange terminology. I actually suspect this is one reason Age of Sail fantasy hasn't been more popular despite the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (which you'll note didn't waste time on boring, confusing details). On the other hand, most authors seem to ignore the interesting part of ship-board life, which is the relationships and psychology of being trapped in a limited space with so many people.

What I love about pirates is how they're the ultimate rebels, and the ships represent the ultimate freedom. But I also like my pirates extremely romanticized and non-traditional, so am definitely the wrong person to ask if you want something more similar to actual historical piracy on Earth.

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LaurenSamantha said:

... And what do you think has been overused?

I am writing a novel set in a fictional universe based around a crew of all female Pirates and it just doesn't feel piratey enough! I wanted to know what cliches you think need to be avoided with Pirates and what about traditional Pirate stories do you love and think should be kept? Just looking for general opinions.

Thanks in advance

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Depends on the tone.

In a serious, even grim, story, I would be interested to see an exploration of the quasi-legal relationship between piracy and established nations manipulating pirates as proxy naval power. Sir Henry Morgan and William Kidd are contrasting examples of landing on either side of the fuzzy, thin, and often-shifting line, and the latter is a fascinating case of a proxy warrior who outlived his usefulness.

Uh, of course, if that's not the tone you're aiming at, then pirate ghosts, parrots, and jokes about rum always work.

1) You had me at 'crew of all female Pirates'. I want to read this book already. XD

2) I don't mind a romanticized vision of piracy a la Pirates of the Carribean as long as you've got some meaty characters on board to keep me entertained. Like, I could do without the fact they were missing teeth and smelled terrible and were constantly being stricken with cholera, you know? Ditch the really hokey, Halloween-esque stuff and you'll be okay.

Like others have mentioned, a deep dive into the interpersonal dynamics of a confined space, plus how an all-female crew would really function vs. the historical all-male one (or MOSTLY male, anyways) would make a good read.

To echo mpack here:

My favourite depiction of pirates has to be in William S. Burroughs' Cities of the Red Night. Probably has to do with the sociological and wider political elements of piracy from the pirate's viewpoint.

If we take that and look at your starting point, I think an important sub-text would be the societal background that has produced this all-female crew. Not to let the "origin" slip down to some accident, like a bunch of ladies of the night kidnap a vessel after being treated poorly and try to make it in a man's world, but make them active political agents. I have quite often felt that pirate stories are too much about the plain adventure and rarely produce any serious food for thought. Not to mention the fact that feminist pirates would probably sell.