The Raptor in the Pirates of the Caribbean

Raptors in Pirates of the Caribbean? How?

I enjoy stories with great plots. But stories with great plot twists exceed all my anticipations, leading me to happily consume that story over and over again. (Yes, I have seen Jurassic Park over fifteen times in the theater.)

This led me to study what makes a great plot twist. At its core, I think it all starts with meeting tropes, given their respective genres. Writing a romcom? You’d best have a killer meet cute. Writing a thriller? Give your readers an amazing intellectual psychopath.

Why? Because you need to deliver on the promise you made when selling your story to a consumer, otherwise they’ll leave feeling unsatisfied; unfulfilled; and ultimately, unhappy.

So, step one: exceed audience expectations. Using Jurassic Park (the first and, frankly, the best movie in the franchise) as an example, Steven Spielberg knew his audience would want to see a T-Rex. But Spielberg didn’t just let the audience see a T-Rex. They experienced one. Spielberg delivered on that promise in spades.

After that, step two: deliver the plot twist. In Jurassic Park, the plot twist was the raptors. A threat so thrilling and terrifying that you didn’t mind that the T-Rex wasn’t anywhere in sight. What does this mean? A great story will follow through with the trope you were expecting, and then (just like the other two raptors you didn’t even know where there) hit you with an unexpected plot twist that enhances the story. It’s like getting a pony for your birthday…and then a theme park.

(Another other fun bit that Spielberg did was leave the raptor shrouded for most of the movie. We only caught glimpses of this predator, and it wasn't until the audience reached the most terrifying moment in the movie that they saw a full view of the raptor: when they entered the kitchen where two children were trapped.)

For me, the “raptor” in any story is that twist that you weren’t expecting, that enhances the story, and that surprises you in the best way possible. Another example of this is in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie (again the best one in its franchise.) The audience was sold on cursed pirates and that’s exactly what they got. Then, the movie gave us the raptor of that story, Captain Jack Sparrow. A totally unexpected element that made the story better and memorable. (As well as sparking several sequels that unfortunately failed to deliver more “raptors” to keep the audience’s attention. But that’s a story for another newsletter.)

To read about how I added a raptor in my story, click below to check out Whisper, my debut fantasy being released on July 9th!