Cassius Alcindor Posted June 27, 2020 Posted June 27, 2020 Welcome to my Novel Nest! Background Info: First, the title. In Norse mythology, "Nastrand" is the land where the wicked end up after the final battle of Ragnarok. Now, bear with me, because I feel like I need a bulletin board and lots of red yarn for this story to make sense haha. This novel is set in various Asian countries (primarily North Korea and China) during the Korean War (early 1950's). While reading a book about the history of MI6, I came across an interesting tidbit about how British intelligence worked with Norwegian merchant sailors in the above places and time periods. Norway had one of the world's largest merchant fleets and maintained trading relationships with communist countries that the West didn't have much access to. To take advantage of this access, this intelligence op would place spies on the merchant ships so they could observe and report on whatever was going on in the foreign ports. Ok, that's enough of the Professor Binns history lesson for now;) Protagonist: Lieutenant Commander Martin Owens- MI6 officer posing as a sailor onboard one of the merchant ships Antagonist: Gerald Bentley- Martin Owens' immediate boss, a British spy who's a double-agent working for USSR and leaking Korean War plans (loosely based on real people like Kim Philby and Guy Burgess) Plot: The plot is basically a combination of "Death on the Nile," "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," and "1917." In the primary plotline, Martin Owens visits Shanghai with the Norwegian merchant ship, and they take a defecting Soviet officer onboard who knows enough to potentially identify where the leak is. One member of the crew is a member of the same spy ring as Gerald Bentley, and kills the defector to keep their secrets safe. Now Owens has to solve the murder while secluded on a small ship where he doesn't know who to trust. In the secondary plot, a special ops team on a mission to rescue POWs in North Korea is betrayed by Bentley and has to fight their way out of a trap and follow the clues back to who betrayed them. Additionally, there is a Norwegian spy in Shanghai who is also tracing clues in search of the leak. The three plotlines converge and lead back to Bentley for the climax. So that's what I'm working with. Haven't quite worked out how I'm going to pull it off just yet, but hopefully the Nano forces me to put words on the paper and see how it goes. Best of luck to everybody participating!!!
nott theodore Posted June 28, 2020 Posted June 28, 2020 Hi! This sounds like such a fascinating idea - I have a few questions for you about it! 1. You've taken your title from Norse mythology - is that mythology going to play a role in the story as well? Maybe in themes/characters that are involved? 2. What's one thing that you've found out during your research for this story that surprised you? 3. Writing about North Korea and China in this time period sounds like quite a task - what do you see as being the biggest challenge about the setting you've chosen? 4. What's your favourite thing about writing in this genre? 5. How long do you imagine this story will be? 6. Are there any scenes or elements of this story that you're really looking forward to writing?
Cassius Alcindor Posted June 29, 2020 Author Posted June 29, 2020 Thanks for some excellent questions! On 6/28/2020 at 6:35 AM, nott theodore said: 1. You've taken your title from Norse mythology - is that mythology going to play a role in the story as well? Maybe in themes/characters that are involved? At first, I was struggling to come up with a good title, so I thought something from Norse mythology might go well since a lot of the story takes place on a Scandinavian ship. When I read about the story of Ragnarok, "Nastrand" is basically the Norse version of hell, and one of the types of people that end up there are oath breakers. The ideas of loyalty and keeping your oaths will definitely be one the themes of this story. On 6/28/2020 at 6:35 AM, nott theodore said: 2. What's one thing that you've found out during your research for this story that surprised you? One somewhat surprising thing was learning just how international the Korean War was. While the majority of the troops on the South Korean side were American or South Korean, many other countries made contributions to the UN forces. Meanwhile, the other side was mostly China/North Korea, but the USSR was doing a lot to assist them as well. On 6/28/2020 at 6:35 AM, nott theodore said: 3. Writing about North Korea and China in this time period sounds like quite a task - what do you see as being the biggest challenge about the setting you've chosen? One big challenge was learning as much as I could about the relevant cultures and geography. I haven't been to any of the places in the story, and well, you can't exactly visit North Korea. It's also a challenge to capture the complexity of the political situation, especially since a lot of the issues surrounding the Korean War still haven't been resolved today. On 6/28/2020 at 6:35 AM, nott theodore said: 4. What's your favourite thing about writing in this genre? I love how high the stakes are in the stories. Especially in the Cold War era, the threat of nuclear war is always hanging there in the background and adds a whole layer of suspense. On 6/28/2020 at 6:35 AM, nott theodore said: 5. How long do you imagine this story will be? Anywhere from 50-80,000 words when all is said and done On 6/28/2020 at 6:35 AM, nott theodore said: 6. Are there any scenes or elements of this story that you're really looking forward to writing? I always love the part in this type of story when the protagonist finally puts the pieces together and figures out who the killer/mole is, and how all the disjointed clues feel like they made sense all along once you put them together.
magemadi Posted July 4, 2020 Posted July 4, 2020 Hey there! You’ve got me absolutely fascinated already about this story with just your title, summary, and little bit of background history you’ve shared with us. As such, I have a few questions for you about your ideas for this spy mystery murder story! 1. Are you generally a history buff, or did you just end up finding out some interesting/cool facts about this time period that inspired the beginnings of this story? 2. Of the three movies you mentioned this story to be a combination of, which one did you enjoy the most and why? 3. Do you think with the spy within spy rings and such that you will do a physical storyboard-type thing to help yourself keep track of characters, character arcs, plot points, etc? 4. How did you decide on your secondary/tertiary plot arcs and their connection with the main plot?
Cassius Alcindor Posted July 8, 2020 Author Posted July 8, 2020 More great questions!! On 7/3/2020 at 8:41 PM, magemadi said: 1. Are you generally a history buff, or did you just end up finding out some interesting/cool facts about this time period that inspired the beginnings of this story? I'm a big history buff and love to read historical stuff, both nonfiction and historical fic. This book about the history of MI6 was where the original inspiration for this story came from. On 7/3/2020 at 8:41 PM, magemadi said: 2. Of the three movies you mentioned this story to be a combination of, which one did you enjoy the most and why? I love all three, but I think I'll have to go with 1917. The filming style was so innovative and it never really let up the sense of stress and imminent danger. On 7/3/2020 at 8:41 PM, magemadi said: 3. Do you think with the spy within spy rings and such that you will do a physical storyboard-type thing to help yourself keep track of characters, character arcs, plot points, etc? Yeah that's a great idea. I definitely need some sort of visual organizer to keep track of everything. On 7/3/2020 at 8:41 PM, magemadi said: 4. How did you decide on your secondary/tertiary plot arcs and their connection with the main plot? Part of it was giving a role to a couple characters I've used in other stories for universe-building purposes. Also, the primary plot is a bit claustrophobic mainly taking place on a ship, so I wanted the contrast of some things that were happening in the wider situation
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