 Mystery: June 28, 2017 Issue [#8367] |
  Mystery
This week: Fictional Nations Edited by: Jeff  
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FICTIONAL NATIONS
One of the things I really struggle with in the mystery/thriller genre is where the conflict originates from. There are very popular subgenres that focus on political plots, espionage, terrorism, conspiracies, and so forth, many of which identify antagonists as being from countries with which western countries have very real conflicts: Russia, China, the Middle East, etc.
I totally understand that there's a market for sensational, nationalist stories of special ops soldiers taking down the Muslim extremists who kidnapped the President, or the Russian or Chinese spies who are discovered to have been working behind the scenes to take down our democracy, I can't help but feel that reinforcing those stereotypes in an already polarized world may not be the best thing for fiction writers.
Don't get me wrong, I can still totally enjoy a story like that, and I understand why authors use those locales which are familiar and for which the audience already has a built-in predisposition. Having a bad guy who's an ISIS operative from Afghanistan has a lot of natural baggage attached, so the writer doesn't need to do a lot to characterize that individual as a "bad guy" if they want to get right into their story about a terrorist plot.
But a big part of me doesn't want to perpetuate the tropes that seem to be driving wedges deeper between people of diverse geographical and ideological origins. As a human being who values diversity, acceptance of others, and a global community, I feel a sense of obligation to create art that doesn't just prey on people's existing fears or established prejudices.
While this can certainly be accomplished by establishing that antagonist characters are individuals with personal motivations rather than being representative of an entire group, I also find it helpful to create entirely fictional countries or organizations where you don't have to worry about perpetuating any stereotypes or real world ill will because they don't actually exist in the real world!
Some examples of this fictional nations include:
 Avengers: Age of Ultron featured a climactic battle in the Eastern European nation of Sokovia;
The West Wing produced episodes that included references to the Middle Eastern nation of Qumar;
The Princess Diaries franchise focuses on the European principality of Genovia; and
24 featured a Middle Eastern Islamic Republic called Kamistan.
Film producer Steven E. de Souza even created the fictional country of "Val Verde" for use across multiple films, whenever he had a movie that needed a Central or South American island locale and they wanted to avoid any legal or diplomatic problems. The island nation of Val Verde is featured in movies that include Commando and Die Hard 2, with some believing they've spotted references to it in other films not produced by de Souza, including Predator and Jurassic Park.
The next time you're writing villains with international origins, consider whether a fictional country might be a good fit for the kind of story you're trying to tell. 
Until next time,
Jeff
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EXCERPT: The bike ride was going wonderfully. The early morning wind had subsided into a calm overcast afternoon with temperatures perfect for any outdoor activity, especially biking. The Carolina back roads weaved placidly through light forest on this late spring day and Greg Stuart felt like he could bike these paths all day. As a matter of fact with enough water and food on his person he intended to bike until something or someone stopped him, he felt he had the right.
EXCERPT: Dean Sawyer wiped the grime from his forehead and concentrated on his task. He had never really hot-wired a car, or more appropriately, a truck, - which happened to be the only available vehicle in the gas station- but he had seen one of his high school buddies, Kevin, do it a couple of times. It shouldn't be as difficult as this, it had never looked difficult when Kevin did it. He touched the open end of two wires together and frowned when nothing happened again. Frustration edging towards desperation and panic, he tried again. No spark.
EXCERPT: Sydney smelled coffee. She snuggled down under the quilts and slowly opened her eyes. The tiny bedroom in the log cabin she had rented with friends, Abby and James, was cold. She jumped up and threw on her flannel shirt over her p.j.s and slipped into her hiking boots. She opened the door into the main room of the cabin to see James adding wood to the roaring fire in the fireplace and his wife Abby across the room in the small kitchen space pouring coffee for the three of them.
EXCERPT: I was once on holiday in Turkey with a friend, so the surroundings were very much unknown to me. Everything was good but one day we decided to go for a trip to an outside market. We went by bus and it took us about one hour to get there. Once there it was just lots of stalls covering a big area. Anyway, eventually my friend and I got split up, and soon I was walking on my own. After about ten minutes I saw this gap in-between two stalls, and was curious to know where it went, so I began to walk over to it.
EXCERPT: Avery tromped up the attic stairs behind her big sisters. Grammy had said they could explore on their own, for the first time.
"Let's look for the toys first!" Avery said when they reached the top. One either side of the landing was a green door. "Grammy said we could play with her things." She put her hand on the left door.
"Don't go in there!" Sadie, the oldest, commanded. "That's just the storage room."
"Not just the storage room," Norah said. Then, in a whisper, "I'm pretty sure it's haunted."
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Feedback from my last newsletter about everyman characters versus exceptional man characters ("Mystery Newsletter (May 31, 2017)" ):
willwilcox writes: "This is good stuff! Thanks!"
You're very welcome. Thanks for reading! 
Quick-Quill  writes: "This NL has helped me define my new Everyman/woman story. what if an everyday woman was asked by a man she saw every sunday on her walks to help him travel undercover?"
I think you answered your own question... an "everyday woman" getting drawn into exceptional circumstances is still an average person.
Unless you're planning on giving her some kind of special skill or ability that your average person doesn't have - like being an Olympic-caliber athlete, having advanced weapons training or supernatural powers, etc.
DB Cooper  writes: "I am shocked how you read my mind because I'm miles beneath my characters in terms of skills and talents."
Me too! For me, part of the appeal of writing is living vicariously through the lives of my characters. I always like imagining what life would be like as a badass secret agent, or a savvy starship captain, or a private investigator with exceptional powers of observation.
Arakun the twisted raccoon  writes: "Don't forget the ultimate exceptional man-Sherlock Holmes! Holmes can get away with knowing everything because it is part of his charm, but sometimes the exceptional character is so perfect that they become annoying."
Yeah, they've done a great job with the Sherlock character in recent years (especially the BBC series version) of showing just how simultaneously impressive and annoying it can be to witness the impressive mental prowess of someone of Sherlock's talents. 
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