Different Words Have Different Places

By Chester Campbell

People who advise us on the craft of writing fiction are fond of saying make every word count. If it doesn't help define character or move the plot, it doesn't belong in the story. Okay, they allow us a little leeway in painting the setting, so maybe that's the crutch on which we can hang our little peccadillos.

I got a new review by Gloria Feit, who with her husband is probably the most prolific reviewer on the DorothyL mystery listserve. She posts her reviews on nearly a dozen other sites, including Spinetingler and Crimespree magazines and Midwest Book Review. At the end of her review, she commented that I gave a "tip of the hat from the author to Tim Hallinan and his Bangkok mystery novels, and to Lee Child and his Jack Reacher books."

I like to stick in little plugs for authors I know and like.  In one scene I had my secondary protag, Jaz LeMieux, reading a Tim Hallinan mystery to take her mind of her troubles. I don't recall how I brought in Jack Reacher. In other books I had used well known authors as well as lesser known but equally great writers like Beth Anderson, an old pal from Chicago.

I've just finished revising an early manuscript of a thriller I plan to put up as an ebook. Much of it takes place in South Korea, and I included a lot of Korean food and Korean customs to give a better feel for the setting. My first visit to Seoul took place in 1952-53 during the little fracas between North and South. My wife and I journeyed there in 1987 with our son and Korean daughter-in-law. During a visit to her parents' home in Inchon, I got a good look at how non-Westernized people lived.

One interesting little tidbit I used in the book was that you should make noises while eating to show the cook that you enjoyed her meal. When my son was married over there while on duty with the Army, it was with a civil ceremony. I Pun, my daughter-in-law (her maiden name was Han I  Pun), wanted a real wedding, so they had a formal ceremony at a wedding house. The preacher spoke in both Korean and English. Afterward, we ate at a Korean restaurant and joined several of her girlfriends for a tour of the town. We visited a Korean War museum and the Port of Inchon, where they let my son open a lock to let a boat in. The book, titled The Poksu Conspiracy, winds up with a Korean wedding.

Some of these little snippets probably advance the plot, others may add to character, but they all help give the reader a feeling of being there.  And that's what I like to create.

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Writing About Foreign Locations

By Chester Campbell

Writing mysteries with foreign locations can cause some difficulties, but when I started penning novels in the early nineties, I plunged ahead without hesitation. You do that when you're young (I was only sixty-seven then). My second book, still unpublished, was set largely in Korea, with smaller sections in Hungary and Thailand. I'm currently revising it with a new market in mind.

For the Korean part, I had the advantage of having spent a year in Seoul during the Korean War in 1952-53, plus a visit there during a tour of the Far East in 1987. I also had a Korean daughter-in-law who provided some information on customs in the country. I read lots of other views of the Hermit Kingdom, including those in various travel books.

The title of the book is The Poksu Conspiracy. Poksu in Korean means "vengeance." I found enough expressions in phrase books to give the story a realistic feel. Transliterations of Oriental languages with odd alphabets are notably inconsistent, but I tried to stick with spellings used in the media for better known words. After completion of the manuscript, I had it read by a Korean college student to catch any inaccuracies.

For the portion set in Thailand, I used the area around Chaing Mai, a popular tourist destination in the northern part of the country. In checking on Google, I found the city has grown tremendously in the past quarter century. The metropolitan area now includes a million population. I had visited Chaing Mai as part of that month-long Far East tour in 1987.

The Hungarian setting was a bit different. I had never visited that part of Europe. I read several books to get a feel for the people and the country. My chapters were set in Budapest, and I found a copy of National Geographic that included lots of good photos and details of locations I used in the story.

Using foreign locations in mysteries isn't all that difficult if you're willing to do the research. As best I recall, Martin Cruz Smith wrote Gorky Park without ever visiting the Soviet Union. Reading the book, you'd have thought he had lived there. Have you written foreign locations? If so, how did you handle it?

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A Steady Climb

By Mark W. Danielson

“Climb” is a word with many meanings. In Miley Cyrus’ song, it refers to her reaching her dreams. In the entertainment industry, it frequently describes sales progression. In this article, it compares fiction writing to climbing Seoul’s Mount Namsan; the largest mountain within the city.

As with drafting manuscripts, Namsan’s gradient is steep and constant. Its endless steps can be intimidating, and yet I climb them because of the elderly. Though I could ride a gondola to the top, I prefer following the senior Koreans who still climb Namsan. These people inspire me to follow their lead in much the same way as my writing mentors have challenged me to write. Anyone facing obstacles always smiles after achieving their goals.

In this regard, scaling Namsan parallels my efforts in drafting manuscripts. While I'm elated when it’s finished, I still find plenty of challenges along the way. Editing is often more difficult than writing the initial draft, and when it's done, I’m not confident it’s perfect. The ecstatic feeling I get when a book has been picked up by a publisher is easily diminished when dealing with the business aspect. But that’s when reminiscing about the elderly Namsan climbers helps to keep things in perspective. Their images constantly remind me that as much as I enjoy writing, there is more to life than writing and selling books, and that moving forward, regardless of the struggles, is the best way to live life while still achieving goals. These lessons have stayed with me as long as those of my mentors'.

For as long as I’m able, I will continue to climb mountains and draft manuscripts. Perhaps when I’m old enough, others might follow in my footsteps. I haven’t caught up with Namsan’s elderly yet, but I’m getting there. So far they’ve taught me that life is a series of steps, and that all I can do is stay focused and climb them one at a time. Perhaps that's what Miley Cyrus had in mind in her song, too. That being said, I eagerly await my next lesson, and hope I have many years left.