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This week: Adding Espionage to Writing Edited by: Vivian  
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I took part in the Muse Online Writers Conference a few years ago, and D.S. Kane (http://swiftshadow.com/) had a workshop on how to write about espionage realistically. The information I gained from that workshop will be helpful in some of my upcoming work, and I hope some of what I share will aid other others, too.
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Getting Started with Intelligence Agencies
To begin writing a military or spy thriller, an author needs to have some knowledge of intelligence agencies.
D.S. Kane listed ten intelligence agencies in the United States: CIA, NSA,FBI, DIA, NCIS, ATF, DEA, NRO, ONI, U.S. Marshals. He said he knows of sixteen, even though he didn't list that many during the workshop. One that he didn't know about, and that I do because of my research for my work-in-progress (WIP), is the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), the Air Force equivalent to NCIS.
Of course other nations have their intelligence agencies, too, such as AFI (intelligence branch of the Israeli Air Force), The Mossad (Israel's "secret" service), MI-6 (Great Britain), and the former KGB (former Soviet Union).
The more one knows about the intelligence agencies used in writing fiction, the more believable the writing is. Research is vital. I would suggest to begin with D.S. Kane (http://swiftshadow.com/) before going to some of the following works, just a short list of possibilities:
John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
John LeCarre, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Thomas Gordon, Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad
Peter Wright, Spy Catcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer
Thank you, D.S. Kane, not only for an interesting workshop, but also for information to help writers be better writers.
I hope to share what I learn at other conferences I attend, and I recommend anyone attend a writing conference who can. |
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Words from Our Readers
Last issue, I shared what I learn from watching television. Below are comments I received after the newsletter came out four weeks ago:
SS 
Thank you for your contributions. They are very much appreciated and respected. Write on!
LJPC - the tortoise
Hi Vivian!
Like you, I get a lot of ideas from watching TV (and movies). I enjoy crime stories and medical dramas more for the forensic info than the melodrama. I also watch Reality Zone and Crime & Investigations channels for the many documentaries on real murders. Sounds like you should go in search of these and forgo the network shows' caricatures that are meant to entertain. But even the most unbelievable plots can have a few interesting ideas in them. Have fun researching! *Smile*
~ Laura
oldgreywolf scribbles 
Hi, Vivian. My roommate likes NCIS Los Angeles (I'm ex-Intelligence, and think it's garbage), but before going elsewhere at the beginning of one episode, the actions of the two leads caused me to write a line in my journal: "When a team of walking targets needs to be reminded that they're targets, it's time for a career change, and their management needs to be retired." Incidentally, eyes say a lot, but watch the whole body, too, if possible.
Matt Bird MSci (Hons) AMRSC
A great newsletter. I watch those shows myself, and marvel at the unrealistic ways they solve crimes with technology beyond sci-fi! I've linked a service that can be used if you think your piece could suffer from issues including unrealism.
Michael Thomas-Knight :
So true. My wife watches Law & Order all the time. She asked me why I don't care for the show and I said because it is a false representation of real detective and police work, months/years of painstaking police work is squashed into a linear One-hour show where every lead pans-out and develops into another clue in the case. The 'catch-22' is - if you make your story too real; most of the time it would be a very boring story, with a lot of dead-ends and menial tasks.
Walt J. Rimmer
I also enjoy these shows but my roommates hate me because I will point out, calmly, every inaccuracy or inconsistency I can find. The biggest problem I've had, which I have found much more in television from the US than from the UK, is that no matter what the characters are like, if there's a male and a female, they have to have some kind of romance or sexual tension. I admit, in some cases it works very well. But a lot of the time, it seems completely out of line. Am I the only one that sees this, and if so, am I the only one who sees it more in programs from the states then Europe?
Rose
I agree with your statement concerning the TV show trend lately. I wish producers would take it upon themselves to show the positive side of humanity, not who can sleep with the most people and cheat on their partners the most.
Zeke 
Another thing about modern TV is that most shows are geared to a mental age of twelve.
bertiebrite hoping for peace
Detectives and cop shows go, there is not one of them that is realistic, unless you watch Cable TV's First 48. Watching some make-believe guys in lab coats solve a crime in one half hour is ludicrous. For instance, Cold Case. They always solve the mystery. There are cold cases that have been as old as forty years, that will never be solved, but put a TV cop on the trail and oila! We have the murderer packaged and ready to go. Unrealistic. They seek to glamorize instead of document. Ratings, you know.
Thanks for all the comments. Television shows can be as creative as writers wish and that the audience will accept, but that has nothing to do with my wish that we as writers write better.
Thanks for joining me this issue. I hope we're back together again next month.
Viv |
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For Authors: April 11, 2012 Issue [#4979]
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