The Story Behind the Story: Faith in Victory

Quite some time ago, in the early days of my editorial career and light-years before I began freelancing, I worked on a series of books about twentieth-century Japan. The project forced me to go back to many of the books I had read while working towards my Master's Degree. One of them stuck with me: Japan at War by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore Cook.

A newer edition of this book is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

A newer edition of this book is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Japan at War was, and remains, one of the most unique books about World War II I've ever encountered. It tells the story of the war through chronologically arranged first-person accounts from all walks of Japanese life. It's a perspective that's missing from many sources: what was it like to be an ordinary Japanese citizen during the war?

There were details from those accounts that I couldn't shake: the naval intelligence officer who'd known nothing about the attack on Pearl Harbor until after the fact, the school boy who built balloon bombs at school, Tojo's announcement of the Pearl Harbor attack. Those details shaped themselves into a story.

As I researched even more, I stumbled across another gem: a short film from 1941 called "Children of Japan." (You can watch the video from the Prelinger Archives at the Internet Archive by clicking here.) Given the year of the film, it is a remarkably objective picture of the life of a middle class family in Japan, and it gave me more details to add to young Sato's story.

 

As I reread "Faith in Victory" now, many years after writing it, I can't escape the idea that it can be so much more. It has the roots to become a novel, and I hope to make that happen someday. Right now, though, that kind of magnum opus seems beyond me in both time and skill.

 

Click here to read "Faith in Victory."

The Story Behind the Story: The Envelope

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Back in the spring and summer of 2012, I was working on a massive U.S. history project as part of my day job. As I edited a series of lessons about American involvement in Vietnam, I found myself wondering what it might have been like to receive a draft notice. What would it have been like for a young man who had already lost an older brother to the war?

The more I researched, the clearer the story became. I scoured the Internet and found images of the Orders to Report for Physical Examination and Orders to Report for Induction. Being so used to digitally generated form letters, I was struck by the uneven typewriting on the notices. I had to put that detail in the story. After all, it's those kind of details that bring to life the history in historical fiction.

During the story's planning stages, I thought maybe Quincy would fail his physical examination. By the time I started drafting, though, I knew with absolute certainly that Quincy would pass, forcing him to wrestle with his options. Ultimately, he would decide to dodge the draft, catching a bus to Canada instead of reporting for induction as ordered. But my characters, I have found, often have minds of their own and Quincy was no different. He caught a bus, alright---just not the one I had planned.

I took a draft of the story to my then-writer's group, one of whom is a Vietnam veteran. I admit to being a little nervous about his reading the story. I'd read parts of his memoir about his service in Vietnam, and I wanted very much to do justice to the Vietnam experience. To this day, I cannot recall with any clarity what feedback the other members of the group gave me, but I do remember Dan's. He told me his experience had been similar to Quincy's; he too had kept his draft notice secret from his family. I still cherish his words, because they validated my interpretation of events. I had gotten my story right. Thank you, Dan! (On a side note, someday Dan will publish his memoir. I, for one, can't wait to read it in its entirety.)

 

Click here to read "The Envelope."

Let Me Take You on a Musical Journey

I fell down a rabbit hole today. This actually happens frequently with me, but it's usually work related. I'll go to check one fact and see something interesting and then look to find more about that interesting thing and next thing you know I'm miles down the garden path.

Today, it was a music video that caught my interest. A link was posted on Twitter and that led me to the video and that video blew me away. Not the video itself, but the music.

Consider this an official announcement: I am now a fan of Postmodern Jukebox.

Postmodern Jukebox is a group that reworks pop songs into mid- or early twentieth century musical styles. After watching that video, I found more on YouTube and then found the band's albums on iTunes and now I'm trying to figure out how many songs I can afford to buy.

I'm not really a fan of contemporary pop music. I couldn't even tell you who's popular these days. Consequently, I haven't heard the original versions of many of the songs Postmodern Jukebox covers. But oh, how I have fallen in love with the covers.

Seriously, they are worth checking out. You can start here with "All About That Bass," the song that got me hooked: