Writers in the Storm

by Fae Rowen

Because I've got the October 2 blog date, I get to say Happy Birthday to my mother here. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Thanks for indulging me. And for finding today's target word twice in the first sentence. "Get" and it's multi-tense derivative "got" could be nominated for one of the words everyone, not just writers, uses loosely for coming into possession of.

You could probably list a dozen or more words describing how you can come into possession of something. Some, like "obtain," are definitely too writerly to be used in general cases. "Acquire"—think acquisition— works, but can have a somewhat negative connotation as to how you've acquired something.

"Procure" or "gain" can imply that others helped or that what you got was a for personal use that could be a bit shady. (Think of procuring a prostitute.) "Secure" shows the difficulty in getting something, while "attain" is usually reserved for a commendable, difficult goal.

Our job as writers is to find the right, the best, word for every description, every bit of dialogue, and every scene. As easy substitute for get or got doesn't always work.

Take a moment to think of how I could rewrite the first sentence in this article without using got or get. Typically we use get for its brevity in the context of the sentence. What if I'd said: I'm taking advantage of today's date, October 2, to say Happy Birthday to my mother. Happy Birthday, Mom! We could spend ore time with this exercise, but that's not the main point of today's post.

I'm working on the final edits for PRISM 2: Rebellion, my follow-up science fiction book to PRISM 1: Prisoner Relocation Internment Security Management. In one scene, I noticed way too many gets. That dreaded Find editing feature revealed the truth. I had a get/got problem in the middle of my book. I'd like to share some before with you. I'm not going to share all the fixes (just the most difficult ones) because I'd like you to think about what you'd do. Sometimes, I found, the best thing to do is leave it and go on.

Often, you can remove the get or got with no other work necessary. Example: "I have to get going." Fix: "I have to go."

Example: He got the message. Fixes: He received the message or He understood the message or He read around her words and understood what she couldn't write for others to see.

Example: Dinner was getting cold. Fix: The continuing argument allowed the meal to grow cold.

Example: "You got me with that puzzle map." Fix: "You confused (or bemused, or bewildered, or stumped, or beat) me with that puzzle map."

Example: "The conglomerate owner gets paid a trillion credits a year." Fix: "The conglomerate owner (grosses, pockets, earns, is paid, takes home, rakes in, nets) a trillion credits a year."

Example: "Did the police get their suspect?" Fix: "Did the police (apprehend, arrest, catch, capture, seize, take into custody, detain, put...in jail, collar, nab, bust, pick up, pull in) their suspect?

Are you seeing how getting rid of get allows you to better define not only what happens, but change the tone or put the view in a deeper POV? By taking care of your gets your writing can be stronger in many ways.

Think of how you could rewrite the following. There are a lot of possibilities for each, depending on how you perceive the situation.

I got a skimmer.

She got the flu.

I got a pain in my leg.

I got him on the phone.

She didn't get what he said.

He didn't get the joke.

We got there late.

I've like to get to see her.

She got him to go.

I'll get lunch.

What gets me is how mean she is.

I had to use crutches to get around.

Use a picture to get your message across.

I just wanted to get ahead.

She tried to get along with her mother-in-law.

Jim gets around.

It's not easy to get to those wires.

He had to get away from his co-worker.

Some other "get" phrases to think about: get over, get up, get together, get out, get on, get off, get lost, get down, get by, get back, get back at, get on with, get out of

I hope you see the possibility for enriching your work simply by looking at one short word. You readers will thank you for your extra effort.

Are you having trouble revising a "get" sentence from your WIP and would like to post it in the comments for suggestions? What takeaway is most useful to you about sending your "gets" to the gallows?

About Fae

by Piper Bayard

James Bond, Jason Bourne, Sydney Bristow, Jack Bauer... Nothing thrills like a well-crafted spy. However, most of us haven’t served in the Intelligence Community (“IC”) to have experience to draw on, so it helps to talk to someone who is the real deal. My writing partner, Jay Holmes, is the real deal. He’s a forty-plus-year veteran of field intelligence operations and a senior member of the US Intelligence Community.

Spy or Spook?

So is Holmes a spy? No. Holmes is a “spook.” As he says, spying is seamy. It’s what the Russians do. The preferred slang among American intelligence operatives, particularly older operatives, and in the American IC in general is “spook,” not “spy.”

Usage of the term “spook” in the Intelligence Community dates back to the 1800s and is derived from “a ghost that haunts people and is considered undesirable.” It has nothing to do with the racial slur, and operatives of all races are referred to as “spooks.” “Spies” are the agents of foreign countries that are spying on us, or they are foreign agents who are spying on their own countries on our behalf.

Now that we’ve settled that, let’s take a look at some character traits that all spooks share.

While members of the IC can have an infinite variety of personalities, religions, political opinions, and backgrounds, American spooks all have some character traits in common. These traits will be similar to greater and lesser degrees in other countries.

1. Highly Developed Mental Discipline

Members of the Intelligence Community must be able to compartmentalize information, as well as their experiences. They must mentally wall off the work life from the personal life, and vice versa. Otherwise, they would talk out of turn, get burned out, or worse, if a field operative, they would get dead.

2. Love of Travel and Experiencing Foreign Cultures

One reason spooks are drawn to the work is an abiding interest in people, cultures, and experiencing their world.

3. Recognition That Diverse People Actually Are Diverse

Anyone can talk about diversity. Talking is easy. Those in the Intelligence Community, on the other hand, must live those differences, and they know that recognizing and understanding the contrasting values, personalities, and customs of other cultures is paramount to both their survival and the success of their missions. They must work within that kaleidoscopic framework on behalf of American interests.

4. Superior Intelligence

Spooks really do have to be smart.

Holmes and I know what you’re thinking... But there’s this spook on [fill in the network] that says really stupid things. Yes. We often laugh at them and wonder what they’re up to. With members of the IC, as with everyone, intelligence is a tool that is dependent on the user, and it can always be limited or even nullified by character and hubris. The greatest mistake any spook, or any person, for that matter, can make is to think that because they know some thing, they know every thing. Falling into that trap is its own form of stupidity.

5. Wholly Committed

Members of the IC are not wishy-washy people, whether they spend their career at an analyst’s desk at Headquarters or in Third World countries hunting down our enemies. They commit their time, their relationships, and even their lives in service to their nation. The clandestine services take a piece from everyone who serves. Everyone.

6. Good Sense of Humor

Even the field spooks like Holmes, whose spirit animal is Grumpy Cat, have a great sense of humor. Without it, they would go mad in short order.

7. Loyalty

US spooks are loyal to America and to the ideals of the US Constitution and US society. This is not a blind loyalty or a fanaticism, but rather a deep commitment that makes them willing to sacrifice their lifestyle and potentially their lives in service to their country.

8. Socially Accepting

Religion, race, ethnicity, first language, and financial background are irrelevant to US field spooks as compared to skill and loyalties. In fact, such differences are highly valued and useful as long as the individuals are first and foremost loyal to America and to American constitutional ideals. The field is a meritocracy, and what matters most is who can get the job done and come home alive.

9. Covert Action Spooks Can Get Wild During Recess

Field spooks, specifically, have a “certain skill set” that lends them to being a bit wilder than the average bear when letting off steam. Holmes and I aren’t providing examples in order to protect the guilty.

10. Counter-Intelligence (“CI”) Specialists Are Sober and Intensely Patient

CI specialists are looking for that one irregularity—that one glowing clue. Or to sink to a cliché because it is so apt, the needle in the haystack, and they have to sift through tons of hay. CI spooks keep track of mountains of information and are highly skilled at catching that one anomaly or inconsistency in evaluating a foreign agent or in locating a mole within their organization. That requires the soul of patience and attention to detail.

The Real Secret

The overriding trait common to members of the IC, particularly to field spooks, is a farsighted optimism. It is a belief that what they are doing is helping to make their country safer for those back at home. It is the conviction that when they risk their lives, it is for a better tomorrow.

“If I didn’t believe I was helping create a better world, I would never jump out of the plane.” ~ Jay Holmes

Any questions about the character traits of real life members of the IC? Who are your favorite espionage characters in literature and movies? What heroic qualities do you see in them?

About Bayard & Holmes

Piper Bayard and Jay Holmes of Bayard & Holmes are the authors of espionage tomes and international spy thrillers. For more on the personalities and personal challenges of those in the Intelligence Community, see SPYCRAFT: Essentials. It is designed specifically for writers, and it also addresses the functions and jurisdictions of the main US intelligence organizations, tradecraft techniques, surveillance, the most common foibles of spy fiction, and much more. It is available in digital format and print at Amazon.

Please visit Piper and Holmes at their site, BayardandHolmes.com. For notices of their upcoming releases, subscribe to the Bayard & Holmes Covert Briefing. You can also contact Bayard & Holmes at their Contact page, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Piper Bayard or Bayard & Holmes, or at their email, BH@BayardandHolmes.com.

Laura

I looked it up. This blog was born in April of 2010, when our critique group sat in Charla Rae’s office and came up with the crazy idea of a blog to help writers improve their craft and not feel so alone, working in solitude. We’ve posted three times a week since then and have been quoted, reblogged, and received awards. Members of the group came and went, but WITS has remained. 

This, I hope, will always be true. 

But it’s time for me to move on. I love this place, and all of you, but I’ve come to realize that I’ve said everything I have to say. I’ll still be writing, and learning.  I’ll still be around — I’ll see you in the comments, and I’ll be blogging on WITS once a quarter. I’m not sure what will be next for me, but I’ll let you know.

If you want to stay in touch, friend me on Facebook HERE, or sign up for my quarterly newsletter HERE.

In the meantime, I hope you continue to enjoy and support WITS — with new blood, it’s likely to be even BETTER!

I thought I’d leave you (for now) with my top 5 favorite blogs of all time here on WITS. And since you know I’m the writer's cheerleader-in-a-too-tight-skirt, they’re inspirational:

• Everything I Need To Know About Writing, I Learned at Dairy Queen
• You Are Your Golden Ticket
• Where the Stories Come From
• Why Learning Takes So Long
• Notes to My Unpublished Self

Not saying goodbye — just so long for now. See you down the writing road!

Fae

I remember the night we decided to start a writer's blog. We spent a good deal of time trying to agree on a name. When I suggested Writers in the Storm, some asked if that was a Doors song. “If we change a couple of words,” I answered. Laura liked the idea because the publishing industry was in turmoil and the climate of the industry was like a storm. Someone shortened it to WITS, which we all liked a lot.

It’s hard to believe that was almost ten years ago. All I wanted to do was survive learning how to write and post blogs. I knew nothing about “connecting” electronically with anyone. But Jenny said we needed to start WITS as a platform for all of us. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but everyone else seemed to think that was important, so I went along.

I must thank all of you for reading my early-years posts, from the very early posts about my travels (From the Safari Journal) to the only writing craft topic I felt competent to blog about: a three-part world building series beginning with World-Building: Part 1 - Physical Setting to throwdowns with Laura, this one is my favorite on Inspiration vs. Perspiration in Writing.

Your comments and support helped me grow as a blogger, as well as become more confident in my writing skills so that I could offer 5 Conflict-making Choices Characters Can Make and career insights like 7 Tips to "Level Up" Your Writing Career.

Writers in the Storm has grown to something I never believed possible, and it’s because of you, our readers. I know you will understand when I share with you that it is time for me to concentrate on my own writing career now. I have to master marketing like I did blogging. I have to devote more time to writing my books. I have to “level up” my writing game by taking more intensive classes. 

All this is going to take a huge chunk of time, and though I’ve studied a lot of physics, I can’t create an hour like I can create a batch of chocolate chip cookies, so I’ve been looking at what needed to change. Writers in the Storm takes up three full months of my writing time a year, and that is time I need to reclaim.

I won’t be a stranger. I’ll still be reading and responding when I have something to say, even though I’ll be more in “lurk” mode. And I’ll keep you up on what I’m learning during the year with new posts.

This is a sad time (goodbyes are really hard for me), but it is time for me to let Writers in the Storm sail on without me as part of the crew. You can keep in touch with me at my website or email (fae@faerowen.com) or Facebook. You know I’ll be watching you and your writing progress. Share those successes as well as the tougher writing times. We’re all this boat together.

About Laura & Fae

They've been with Writers in the Storm from the beginning, they are lovely people, and they write fantastic books. What else do you need to know?