Writers in the Storm

Bayard & Holmes
~ Jay Holmes

In our last Writing Spies article, we talked about bugging rooms.* But what if our characters need to know if a room is already bugged?

 First, consider the character being bugged and the character or organization doing the bugging.

Some characters are going to expect surveillance. For example, Mafiosos and the FBI agents that hunt them are going to be constantly suspicious that they are under surveillance. Successfully bugging them will require a higher level of technical skill and caution than what would be needed to bug characters who don’t have reason to suspect they are being watched.

On the other side of the equation, a jealous spouse or neighborhood pervert is not likely to be as skillful at placing bugs as an FBI Agent, CIA employee, or even your local police.

 

 

Next, consider when and how the bugging equipment was placed, and precisely when the target would become suspicious.

If the target is a business executive or CIA employee visiting China, Russia, or another police state, he would assume that he has been targeted for surveillance, and he would sweep his hotel room or rental car routinely. He would also assume that he could be targeted by mobile bugging equipment when he leaves his hotel.

Does it seem odd to you when a surveillance target such as a mafia goon suspects a bug and proceeds to have a loud conversation about it with his co-goons in the room? An intelligent person does not announce suspicions.

Remaining calm can give the surveillance target an opportunity to discover a suspected bug without the surveillance team being alerted. The target can then use the bug to misinform his opponents and send them on wild goose chases.

 

 

Once you’ve considered the players, it’s time to think about the technology.

Bug sweeping devices with various levels of sophistication are readily available to the public at costs ranging from $25 for a simple sweeper to $1,500 for a decent sweeper with full spectrum analysis capabilities. (Google “bug sweeping devices retail.”) So even in the case of a non-professional or non-criminal, a character can readily obtain electronic sweeping equipment.

In the age of tiny video cameras and transmitters, we all have to assume that we are under video and audio surveillance.

This means that characters need to sweep the room or building without being obvious. Modern sweepers can be disguised as working cell phones, which can generate vibrations rather than tones. A character can hide her true aim of detecting surveillance equipment by placing a fake call on the device and pacing the room while conversing.

 

 

Sweepers detect transmissions from either microphones or cameras, and they do not distinguish between the two. If your character doesn’t care about tipping off the surveillance team, he can use the sweeper to zero in on the transmission and then inspect the vent, lamp, furniture, etc. to discover the nature of the transmitting bug.

More sophisticated bugs can be remotely controlled to limit transmissions, but more sophisticated scanners can detect them even when they are not transmitting.

A sophisticated target might wait until nighttime and use infrared detection to find heat being generated by bugs.

This method is quite effective for most bugs. If a character waits a few minutes after turning off the lights to let the walls and furniture begin to cool down, she can find nearly any bug with the right sensing equipment.

Smoke detectors and refrigerators can mask a bug’s infrared signature, so they need to be inspected visually.

One technique for bug detection involves searching for pinhole camera surveillance.

Pinhole cameras rely on small amounts of light coming through a wall via multiple pinholes. A character would turn off the lights and then, while looking through an empty toilet paper tube, wrapping paper tube, mailing tube, etc., he would sweep the walls with a bright flashlight and watch for inexplicable small reflections. Such out-of-place light sources may indicate a pinhole camera system.

 

Another type of bugging a writer might employ in a story is an infrared laser system that bounces off windows.

A character can monitor the laser’s reflection, and the glass’s vibration can be measured and interpreted as sound. Basic infrared sensing equipment can detect these systems and pick up conversations from a targeted room without having equipment inside.

In the absence of bug detection equipment, a character can be clever and use his regular cell phone to do a basic bug sweep, even if it really is just a cell phone.

By placing a call and then pacing the room, she can locate radio noise sources. Electronic noise might indicate a bug, but it might also indicate what you already suspected – that we all pay far too much for hideously low quality cell phones. Higher quality bugs will not be detected by a regular cell phone.

The equipment and techniques are fun to consider, but before considering the technical aspects, be sure to consider the situation and the characters. Remember, whether the character is a complete innocent or a cunning old spook, the most important debugging tool is his brain.

Do you have spy questions? Bayard and Holmes will be checking in...

Related Writing Spies Articles:

Which Intelligence Agency Does What to Who?

How the Pros Bug

Truths of Spycraft You Don't See in Fiction

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Piper Bayard, is an author and a recovering attorney. Her writing partner, Jay Holmes, is an anonymous senior member of the intelligence community and a field veteran from the Cold War through the current Global War on Terror. Together, they are the bestselling authors of the international spy thriller, THE SPY BRIDE, to be re-released in spring of 2015.

Keep in touch through updates at Bayard & Holmes Covert Briefing.

You can contact Bayard & Holmes in comments below, at their site, Bayard & Holmes, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Bayard & Holmes, or at their email, BH@BayardandHolmes.com.

Gwen Hernandez

Scrivener understands my writing needs in a way that other word processors never have. Here are 10 reasons why I threw over the old standbys.

1. Scrivener remembers your spot.

Every time you open a project in Scrivener, it takes you right to where you left off. Maybe not such a big deal when writing the first draft, but when you’re in the midst of revisions, it’s a lifesaver.

2. Your structure is easy to see.

Scrivener lets you write in chunks—such as scenes or chapters—called documents. The Binder, where you view all of the documents in your project, gives you an at-a-glance overview of your entire manuscript and thus the structure of your work.

Change your mind about the order of scenes or chapters? It’s a cinch to drag and drop them around and play with a different story flow.

3. Saving epiphanies is easy.

Got an idea for a future scene, but you’re not ready for it yet? Just create a new document, write out your idea, then ignore it until you figure out where it goes. You can also add notes right into the text you’re working on. When you can’t think of the perfect line of dialogue, or you need to do some additional research, simply insert an annotation or comment and get back to writing.

4. Color-coding.

In Scrivener, you can color code your documents by whatever piece of data you want to track. For example, in the drafting phase I tag my fiction scenes by point-of-view (POV) character, using blue for the hero and pink for the heroine (original, right?). Instantly, I can see the POV of a scene and check my overall balance.

In the revision phase—and for nonfiction—I use the Label field to keep track of the status of each section (e.g. Not Started, WIP, To Editor, Author Review, Complete).

5. Auto-save protects your hard work.

If you’ve ever faced the "Blue Screen of Death," or lost power after writing 3,000 words without saving, you can appreciate that Scrivener saves your project every time there’s more than two seconds of inactivity. So while you’re pondering your next sentence, Scrivener is committing your words to memory.

6. Scrivener is like Hermione Granger’s bottomless handbag.

You can import research documents, web pages/links, and photos right into your project, so even when you take your laptop on the road, you have everything you need. You can also import any writing you already started in another program.

Plus, you can keep outlines, notes on ideas for changes and future scenes, and character and setting information all within the project. No more scouring your hard drive or that pile of sticky notes on your desk for a crucial piece of information.

7. Working without distractions.

Scrivener’s full screen composition mode blocks out all distractions, making it easier to focus on your writing. Change the background color or image to suit your mood.

8. Project Targets.

The ability to set word count goals and track your progress. You can track by the project and by the session in Scrivener (see below) so  you will know at a glance how close you are to meeting your goal.

My Scrivener Corner is a great place to get tutorials and know-how. Here's a summary of Project Targets, but I recommend you read the whole post:

• A draft target is the word count goal for the entire project.
• A session target is for that current writing session.
• Sessions, by default, reset at midnight, but Scrivener provides you with the option to reset it wherein a session can last more than one day.
• To open the Project Targets window, go to Project–>Show Project Targets (Mac) or  Project–>Project Targets (Windows).
• Project targets only work in the draft section.

9. The Corkboard.

The Corkboard is a "book-at-a-glance" area where you can view each document as an index card (perfect for storyboarders). Literature and Latte, Scrivener's creators, describe the Corkboard like this:

• Using Scrivener's virtual corkboard, you can get an overview of your project and rearrange the documents using their synopses only.
• If you don't like the corkboard background, you can change it to one of your choice, or just a flat color. You can even make the index cards look more like Post-It notes if that is your preference.

If you are a visual learner, here is a video showing how to use the Corkboard and Synopsis features.

10. Advanced Search.

Advanced searches help you find anything, anywhere in your project. I wrote a post about this feature, providing step-by-step instruction of Advanced Search, if you want to know more. Best of all, it's easy.

But one last extra feature…

Exporting to e-books is a snap. Scrivener is your one-stop publishing program. When your masterpiece is done, you can compile (export) it to an EPUB or MOBI (Amazon) file for easy self-publishing, or for perusing on your e-reader. You can also export to DOC, RTF, TXT, PDF, direct-to-printer, and other formats.

And there’s so much more! I could wax poetic about my fabulous writing partner all day.

That’s just a small list of what makes Scrivener—available for Mac and Windows—too hot to resist. So, if you’re tired of your stodgy, inflexible word processor, hook up with a program that puts your needs as a writer first. Also, there's no commitment with Scrivener’s free trial.

What are your favorite Scrivener tricks? Which of these 10 fun features were new to you? Hit me with your questions. 

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About Gwen:

Gwen Hernandez is the author of Scrivener For Dummies, Productivity Tools for Writers and the Men of Steele series (romantic suspense). Before she started teaching Scrivener to writers all over the world, she was a manufacturing engineer and a programmer. She loves to travel, read, jog, practice Kung Fu, and hang out at home near Boston with her Air Force husband, two teenage boys, and a lazy golden retriever. Learn more about her books or classes and get free Scrivener tips at gwenhernandez.com.

In a few days, my son will be out of school for summer break. He’s signed up for a few weeks of camp but unlike previous summers, he’ll be home more weeks than at camp. The deeper into the end-of-year crazies we got, the more freaked out I became over schedules. When am I supposed to write? I’ll never have that first draft done if I don’t have time to write! How will I be able to focus on details for the writing retreat I’m responsible for? It’s. In. September. Do you hear me breathing into the paper bag?

In a fit of planning, because I’m a planner (not a plotter, that concept still scares the pants off of me), I printed off the summer calendar and started puzzling in word count and retreat deadlines, and blog dates, because it all had to be done. Right? Right?

Wrong. Well, right but not completely.

At the end of each school day, my son would check off another day on the closer-to-summer calendar. His excitement was stressing me out. When did summer lose that sense of opportunity? When was the last time I had a real summer break? Okay, I’m not going to count that far back, but summer, people. Summer. Long, hot, lazy days, going to the pool, soft serve ice cream, reading in a shady spot. Summer.

The last few months have been challenging, to say the least. I’m at the point where I need to make some hard decisions and I haven’t had the time or energy or brainpower to make sense of my options. I need to regroup.

Hello, Summer. Perfect timing.

But I’m still a planner and I still need goals. I know, I know … making “relax” a goal on your to-do list isn’t exactly in the spirit of summer. I can’t help it, sorry folks. I need a plan.

So here’s my summer plan:

1) Read more. If you guys are anything like me, you have a TBR pile that’s threatening to take over your house. And still buying more books. With an active 10 year old in the house, reading quietly for hours on end isn’t realistic. He is, however, all keeping me on task, so I set up a summer reading challenge. We both picked the number of books we intend to read during the summer and created a tracking sheet, complete with smiley face stickers to mark our achievements (confession, the stickers were my idea – don’t judge!).

My summer list includes a couple of debut authors (debuts are a great way to see what’s being picked up by agents and publishers), a couple of books with related themes to my WIP, a couple of books that are completely unrelated in theme and genre, and a couple of books that have been in my TBR pile for way longer than I care to admit. Oh, and one writing craft book.

2) Finish that business plan. We’ve all read about needing a business plan. I created business plans when I started my freelance company, but I never really thought through a plan for my writing career. Over the next few months I’ll finish the plan I started and abandoned when I first started writing.

I know more about myself and my capabilities now than I did when I first started. I also know more about the industry and the various opportunities out there. For example, I have a story idea that’s not big concept, mainstream but there are a couple of small publishers who acquire just that type of book. I’ve been wanting to get back into writing essays so I’ll be researching publications (online and print) and story ideas over the next couple of months as well.

3) Write something totally different. Over the last few months I’ve started and stopped a couple of different story ideas. My brain doesn’t want to latch on to any of them. So for the summer break, I’m putting those ideas away and giving my brain cells permission to let loose.

I’m fascinated with short stories so I’m taking a stab at writing a few. I’ve been batting about an idea for a middle grade book. And I haven’t written a picture book in a while. Whatever I write though, will be for me. I miss the fun of writing for the sake of writing, for no other reason than letting creativity flow. Who knows, maybe by the end of summer I’ll have something to revise with an eye for publication. Or not. The important thing for me is to stretch myself and have fun.

4) Declutter. Oh the clutter! My office has become a dumping ground for papers I don’t have time to file, my laptop screen has become a shelter for homeless files and jpegs, my browser is crowded with open tabs of unread blog posts, my closets are overflowing with all the miscellaneous things I don’t know what to do with, and the brain … wait, what point was I trying to make?

The in-between projects period is perfect for de-cluttering. When I’m busy, I fall into the trap of jotting notes on any scrap of paper I can get my hands on. That means that when I finally come up for air, I have mini-mountains of paper scattered about my office. An email comes in with a blog I want to read so I click and open it then promptly get distracted. I’m afraid to look at the number of open tabs in Firefox and Safari.

My goal then for the summer months is to read those posts that are still waiting to be read, file or trash the papers that have taken over my office and family room and kitchen, get rid of the clothes that no longer fit, and fill my “ideas” notebook with the various ideas that have been flopping around in my head.

5) Explore. It’s so easy to fall into the day-to-day trap. Work, home, school activities, sports, more work, more cleaning, another sports practice. I was trying to think when the last time we—or even I—did something different just for the fun of it.

Remember the reading list I mentioned above? Yup, a book in a genre I don’t normally read. The weeks when my son doesn’t have camp, we’re going to play tourist. I’m lucky to live in a place where people come for vacation and yet, unless we have visitors, we rarely get out beyond our day-to-day requirements. I have a list of things I’d like to do, places I haven’t been to in years or—gasp—haven’t been to at all. And yes, I’ll be keeping my “ideas” notebook handy because you never what fun story ideas will be lurking in the most unexpected places and your mind is clear to finally see them.

Granted, I’m in the enviable position of actually being able to take the summer “off.” I don’t have a contract with a hard deadline looming over me, I don’t have an agent or editor waiting for a manuscript or proposal or essay. But even if you can’t take the summer to regroup, give yourself whatever time you can. If you have a week of vacation, maybe that’s the time to pick up a book in a genre you don’t normally read or jot down ideas for expanding your creative outlets. Or do what I’m doing and plan a spontaneous adventure. ;-)

Have you ever taken time off to regroup and re-evaluate? Did it help? What did you do to re-spark the creative juices and/or soothe an over-tired brain?

About Orly

After years of pushing the creativity boundary in corporate communications, Orly decided it was time for a new challenge. Three women’s fiction manuscripts later (plus a handful of picture books), it’s safe to say she’s found her creative outlet. When she’s not talking to her imaginary friends, she’s reading or at least trying to ignore everyone around her long enough to finish “just one more paragraph.” Orly is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

You can find her on Twitter at @OrlyKonigLopez or on her website, www.orlykoniglopez.com.