Writers in the Storm

Piper Bayard of Bayard & Holmes

The Americans, a show about undercover Soviet agents posing as Americans in the DC area during the Cold War, teaches writers solid lessons in both what it gets wrong, and what it gets right.

Since I write espionage nonfiction and fiction and partner with a senior member of the Intelligence Community, let’s look at this from the espionage angle first.

Philip (Mischa) and Elizabeth (Nadezhda) Jennings, played by Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, are the one-stop shop for all Soviet espionage needs. They run multiple operations at a time and work as everything from honeypots to assassins to grave robbers, all the while receiving frequent phone calls from “The Center” at home, where they live with their two children. Their legends have legends, and they slip in and out of various roles and disguises as if there’s no chance of ever running into their kids’ teachers at the grocery store. Philip pops in and out of a wig and facial hair so adeptly that the poor woman he dupes into a fake marriage doesn’t notice it’s not real—either the facial hair or the marriage. The Jennings even pull their daughter into the “family business.”

It’s a fun and fascinating show. It has virtually no basis in reality.

Oh, the Soviets had honeypots, assassins, thieves, surveillance teams, sleeper agents, etc. The Russians still do. But even the Russians don’t expect their spies to be jacks-of-all-trades.

Real Russians planted into American society under deep cover for the long term are serious investments, both financially and in terms of personnel. These high-value operatives would never be used for such a variety of mundane tasks as assassinations, running agents, robbing laboratories, etc. And the thirty-second disguise that fools a spouse? Hollywood is once again holding out on the government if they’ve got that one.

You’d never know it was me, right?

From an espionage standpoint, though, The Americans does nail more than a few things, but I’ll limit myself to two.

First, Philip and Elizabeth are friendly and likeable.

That is realistic. For example, a foreign-born American traitor was caught red-handed selling classified missile technology to an enemy. I can’t legally publish his name, so I’ll call him “Rat-bastard” for our purposes. After Rat-bastard was arrested, one of the most common refrains from his co-workers was, “He can’t be a spy. He came to my barbecues.” They were completely floored, and to this day, many of them are convinced the CIA and FBI just didn’t have enough to do that week, so they picked on Rat-bastard.

Foreign spies can be charming. The charming ones are far more successful than anti-social brutes named “Boris.” So if you’re writing spies that interact with the enemy undercover, give them the ability to be deadly charming . . . so to speak.

A second thing the series gets right about the characters is their brutality.

The Soviets were ruthless. They blew up busloads of school children, slaughtered towns, and even had a special branch of the KGB to take out their own agents. And though Philip and Elizabeth rack up more brutality mileage than the vast majority of real life Soviet agents did, the quality of their savagery in the series is valid. No need to hold back when writing Russians and violence. For an extra boost of reality, throw in plenty of collateral damage.

Though The Americans is not a documentary on Soviet spies, it’s a fantastic example of characters that generate passionate devotees. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Each Character is the Hero of Their Own Story

There is an idea that’s been kicked around on record since 1812 . . . Every person is the hero of their own story—you, me, the milkman, the serial killer, the corrupt politician, the saint, etc. The Americans is true to this idea with each of its characters.

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are true believers—patriots who have committed their bodies, hearts, souls, and careers to the fight against that perceived threat. Their antagonist, FBI Special Agent Stan Beeman, is equally committed to hunting down Soviet agents on our shores. Even minor characters, such as the Jennings' daughter Paige and Soviet spy Oleg Burov, are devoted to their perception that they are changing the world for the better with their actions. They are each on their Hero’s Journey.

Since each of our readers is on their own Hero’s Journey, they sympathize with characters that are, as well, even when those characters are antagonists and anti-heroes. Every character in The Americans fits that bill.

2. Each Character has a Definable Goal

When characters have solid goals, those goals define their choices and actions, leading to logical plot lines and natural conflict.

In The Americans, Philip and Elizabeth share the goal of protecting their country, and they do so by spying. It leads them to commit all manner of murder, theft, seduction, deceit, and espionage. These actions put them in natural conflict with FBI Agent Stan Beeman, whose goal is to catch Soviet spies in order to protect the United States. Stan’s goal moves him to have an affair with a Soviet agent, kill another Soviet agent in revenge, and befriend a third one against his official orders. His actions, in their turn, lead to natural conflict with the Soviets, his own co-workers, and his family.

Well-defined goals shepherd our characters’ actions and decisions, and those actions and decisions create natural conflict and drive the plot forward.

3. Nobody’s Perfect

Characters that have no flaws that cause them to make mistakes are called caricatures. Paradoxically, our characters’ greatest flaws are often also their greatest strengths.

In The Americans, Philip is a rock star of a Soviet agent because of his capacity for self-awareness. He is brilliant at getting inside his target’s head, whether it’s his FBI agent neighbor, a middle-aged secretary he’s “courting,” or a teenage girl whose father is a high-level CIA officer. This self-awareness is also his fatal flaw. While he uses it for insight into his targets’ vulnerabilities, in the end, it’s this ability to question himself, his motives, and his country that lead him to a meeting where his cover is blown. His conscience both makes him and breaks him.

Soviet rock star Elizabeth’s great strength, as well as her undoing, is her loyalty to her country and her mission. In the name of loyalty, she performs every task with sociopathic dedication, whether it’s seducing and entrapping the enemies of her state or killing innocents who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It even leads her to offer up her own daughter on the altar of duty. In the end, it is this blind devotion that gets her caught up in a rogue political web. However, it is this same loyalty to her country that eventually causes her to question her orders and turn on her handler.

With our characters as in real life, every strength is a weakness when taken too far. When we take our characters to the brink of their own capacities, we keep our readers enthralled.

4. The Characters have Arcs

There is a saying . . . The person who is the same at forty as they were at thirty has wasted ten years. That could be modified to apply to characters. The character that is the same on Page 300 as they were on Page 1 has wasted 300 pages. The Americans doesn’t waste any “pages.”

We’ll look at Philip for an example. In the beginning, Philip is a man who married a stranger and relocated to a foreign land to have children with her and establish a life under the eyes of their enemies. He is devoted to carrying out his orders from The Center with complete professionalism and dedication. But Philip changes over the years. He becomes involved in EST, which stimulates his self-reflection. He forges a close friendship with his FBI agent neighbor. He sees his son grow into a life and opportunities he never would have had in the Soviet Union, and he genuinely falls in love with Elizabeth. He steps back from being a Soviet spy and devotes himself to his travel agency. In essence, he arrives a Soviet and becomes an American. It’s this transformation that ultimately allows him to prevail over his enemy in the end.

5. Everyone Suffers the Consequences of their Actions

As the Mark Knopfler says in his song “Everybody Pays,” “Everybody has to leave some blood here on the floor.” Everyone in The Americans—good guys and bad guys—pays the price of their choices and actions.

There is something inside we mortals that cries out for justice. We rarely get that justice in real life, so we look to stories to fulfill our need to believe that someday, somewhere, there will be a just world. The Americans does not disappoint.

I can’t give examples without blowing the finale for those who haven’t seen it, so I’ll leave it at this . . . People are messy. Life is messy. Real life is not just. When we reflect that steaming mess of humanity in our writing, letting our characters be punished and rewarded in fair measure according to their sins and virtues, we satisfy our readers’ need to believe that someday, somewhere out there, we will all live in a just world.

And isn’t that why we read? So that we can keep the dream alive?

Do you have any questions about the espionage truth and fiction of The Americans? Did you see the series? If so, what kept you coming back?

For more on Soviet agents and other aspects of espionage, see Spycraft: Essentials by Bayard & Holmes, available now at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

 

About Bayard and Holmes

Piper Bayard is an author and a recovering attorney. Jay Holmes is a forty-five-year veteran of the military and intelligence communities. Piper is the public face of their partnership. Together, Bayard & Holmes write espionage fiction and nonfiction.

To follow Bayard & Holmes, sign up for the Bayard & Holmes Covert Briefing, or find them at their site, Bayard & Holmes. You may contact them in blog comments at their site, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Bayard & Holmes, or by email at BH@bayardandholmes.com.

In our last Pimp and Promote, I mentioned that I’m working on a joint project right now with my critique partner, award-winning author Christina Delay.

What I’m really doing is having so much fun writing right now, it should be illegal.

Not that writing isn’t still work — it certainly is — but Christina and I recently hatched an idea to co-write a novella, and so far this experience has buoyed my spirits and refreshed my soul. I didn’t think co-writing would be a good idea for me, but as it turns out, this endeavor has hit on so many aspects I enjoy about writing.

The excitement of brainstorming

You know those moments when your novel and your characters are coming together enough that you can see them, but nothing is set in stone? That’s when you get to brainstorm all the great directions your story could take. And having someone to bounce ideas off can really help you hone your characters and your plot.

But now we’re bouncing back and forth, playing off each other’s ideas, feeling the synergy of two minds instead of one. And what we’re coming up with together is better than we would have done alone.

The advantage of collaboration

In some areas of writing, we are both strong, but in other areas one is weak and the other is strong. So while I struggle to write powerful viscerals, my critique partner is phenomenal at that. And I’m not half bad at dialogue and especially banter. By collaborating, we can turn out a story that shows both of our strengths.

We’re also able to edit one another in real time, so that we stay on track and draw out each other’s best writing.

The efficiency of word count

Writing a novella on my own means having to write 20k words or more. But having a partner means I’m only responsible for 10k words. You know how quickly this means we can turn out a book? In half the time! (Yes, writers can do math when it benefits us.)

There is more coordination required in plotting, characterization, scheduling, etc., but it’s more than made up for by the efficiency of getting the writing itself done. With each of us writing about 5k a week, we could conceivably turn out a first draft in two weeks. Even taking twice that long — which is probably more realistic — it’s still one month to reach a full novella, working together.

The element of surprise

Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, there’s a point where you don’t know what’s going to happen next. And when you discover that, you feel surprised by the turn your story took.

But the way my partner and I are writing, we each just go in, add words, and edit one another—no holds barred, total trust. And instead of opening the WIP the next time and thinking, Oh no, what the heck did she do to my book?! I’m nearly giddy reading how she has twisted one of my phrases in a better way, deepened my characterization, taken us down a path I didn’t quite see.

Now we have enough of a plot that neither of us will go too far off the path, but there’s a delicious element of surprise as I experience our story both as a writer and as a fully engaged reader.

Will the fun continue at the rate it has been thus far? I’m sure we’ll have speed bumps along the way, but I’ve had that by myself with every book I’ve ever written. This time, however, I have someone right there to not only sympathize but empathize — and then resolve the issue and move on with the story.

If you’re considering a co-writing relationship, here are some tips we’ve already embraced:

1. Partner with someone you’ve read a lot. Know what their voice and style are, so you can make sure you’re a good match.
2. Decide your characters’ goals and themes early on. What’s driving this story or series? You need to be on the same page about the story arc.
3. Discuss your strengths and weaknesses, so it’s clear where you want your partner to carry some extra weight for you and vice versa.
4. Trust each other with your words. Be willing to edit each other and embrace the changes your partner makes. If you don’t agree, talk it out, but it’s often best to let the synergy happen.
5. Touch base often. Tag each other when you’ve written something, or ask them to take a look at a scene you’re not sure about. Make sure you’re still on track with the plot and characters.
6. Have fun. Brainstorm with excitement, let yourself be surprised by your partner, embrace the story that unfolds as the sum of your two parts make something bigger than either of you could do alone.

Is co-writing for everyone? I doubt it. But if you’ve been thinking about it, maybe it’s worth giving it a shot. Even just writing a short story for fun and seeing how it goes—no pressure.

You might be as gobsmacked as we’ve been at how wonderful this experience has been.

Have you tried co-writing or considered it? What tips do you have for a successful co-writing relationship?

ABOUT JULIE

Julie Glover writes mysteries and young adult fiction. Her YA contemporary novel, SHARING HUNTER, finaled in the 2015 RWA® Golden Heart®. When not writing, she collects boots, practices rampant sarcasm, and advocates for good grammar and the addition of the interrobang as a much-needed punctuation mark.

Julie is represented by Louise Fury of The Bent Agency. You can visit her website here and also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Yesterday I opened an e-mail from a source that I usually delete without reading.  I'd purchased something from a "sister" company a month ago, and it seems that every week a new spin-off email touting the same information I'd wanted when I bought that resource book lands in my inbox. And though some of the teaser subject lines draw me in, I rarely get to the payoff, because page after page just hypes up the promise of how much I need the information, how useful it will be, for pages and pages. And it's never been true. 

But then, I'm an optimist. And I clicked yesterday. The second screen gave me a fraction of information, though the text was dense. The next screen another fraction, but with more hype. Determined to make it to the end, I continued clicking, skimming the words, becoming more and more irritated. When I noticed the scroll bar at the edge of my browser, I scrolled to the end. It was quite distant from that first page. I'd blown almost half an hour running after my "carrot."

And at the end, a screen wanting my e-mail address to take me to another site, from which they would send me what had been promised as only a click away, thirty minutes before.

I went to each of those five "sister" addresses and unsubscribed I was so angry. They'd promised me something, given me the terms for that first click, then never delivered. I'm not going to spend time deleting one more of their unread e-mails. They get no more of my time. Or money, beyond that initial purchase.

Last night I thought about how, as writers, we make the same "deal" with those who purchase our books. As a genre fiction author, I better deliver the expectations of those who read my genre. For instance, if I write a murder mystery, a dead body better show up fairly early in the page count. When I read a romance novel, I expect to be caught up in the highs and lows of falling in love by the 25% mark. If I'm known for my space battles, there better be at least one big one in the manuscript. When someone purchases one of my books, they are purchasing a message in a bottle. It's my job to make that message one that delivers on the promise.

Though I've never thrown a book across the room, I've heard people talk about getting upset with the progression of a story or the non-progression of a character. Instead of setting the book down for another try later, they heave the book against a wall, accompanied by colorful language, followed by stuffing it into the trash with a promise to never buy a book from that author again.

I'm a very loyal person. And reader. But my favorite authors have changed over the years. Maybe because I've changed. Maybe because I haven't and they did. I can name each author and the last book I read—and why that book was the last one of theirs that I purchased. It's always because I expected one thing and got another.

As we begin the summer pitch/submission season, I'd like to remind you that as you write, whether you are a debut author or a much-published best-seller, remember to deliver the goods to your readers. Stay true to your brand. Stay true to your reader.

Write the best story you are capable of writing. Make the approach for your current WIP fresh, different from what you've published before. Stay out of the ruts that are easy to fall into. If this is the third book in a row where the main characters meet at a waterfall, you may want to rethink that meet, unless that is the hook that sells your series. In which case, get them to the waterfall in different ways, have unexpected things happen at the waterfall or on the way home. 

Think of the last book you read that you really enjoyed. What made that book special? Chances are it made you feel something. Check your WIP again. What makes it special? What makes it sparkle long after the last page has been read?

That's our challenge. Deliver the same goods, but in a different way. Satisfy the promise of your genre, but in a way your reader hasn't thought about before. 

Not an easy task. That's why it's a challenge. But if you take the time to do it, and do it right, you'll build a loyal following. And isn't that the whole point of putting your stories "out there"?

As a genre fiction writer, have there been times when you've felt your story strayed from the given structure of your genre? What have you done? Do some of your stories fall between two genres? When that happens, how do you deal with meeting the expectations of both types of genre readers?

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About Fae

Fae Rowen discovered the romance genre after years as a science fiction freak. Writing futuristics and medieval paranormals, she jokes  that she can live anywhere but the present. As a mathematician, she knows life’s a lot more fun when you get to define your world and its rules.

Punished, oh-no, that’s published as a co-author of a math textbook, she yearns to hear personal stories about finding love from those who read her books, rather than the horrors of calculus lessons gone wrong.  She is grateful for good friends who remind her to do the practical things in life like grocery shop, show up at the airport for a flight and pay bills.

A “hard” scientist who avoided writing classes like the plague, she now shares her brain with characters who demand that their stories be told.  Amazing, gifted critique partners keep her on the straight and narrow. Feedback from readers keeps her fingers on the keyboard, putting the finishing touches on P.R.I.S.M. Book Two.

P.R.I.S.M., a young adult science fiction romance story of survival, betrayal, resolve, deceit, lies, and love.

When she’s not hanging out at Writers in the Storm, you can visit Fae at http://faerowen.com  or www.facebook.com/fae.rowen

Fae also shares personal stories at YA Outside the Lines on the fifth of every month.