Melissa Perri Smith: The next great…spy novelist?
Smith…Melissa Perri Smith.
Photo by @davidtyemnyak from Unsplash.
“It’s the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?”
I know what you’re thinking. “What???”
Yeah, I didn’t see this coming either. If you’ve read any of my writing, you know I tend to err on the side of excess poetics and lyricism, to the point where it’s annoying. My genre usually, without fail, is speculative fiction. So why am I bringing up spy novels?
Well, it’s a rather lame story. Basically, I’ve had a bad case of the lack of inspiration blues. Every short story I write is coming out the same. It’s actually a little annoying, since submitting to a lot of journals was on my list of to-dos for the year, but, you know, without a short story to submit, I’m a bit fucked.
So, I decided to take a miniature break from the angsty seriousness of my short stories and write something fun. You guessed it: a romance novel!
“What?”
Yeah, I know, not a spy novel. But, when I was brainstorming, I thought how fun it would be to make the two love interests spies from different nations whose missions conflict with each other. As a romance novel, I imagined it wouldn’t get into the nitty gritty of the implications of international affairs and how the other’s actions may impact the world order, etc. I just wanted to focus on the lovey dovey gross stuff and have fun with it.
But as I continue to plot the novel, it’s quickly turning into…the opposite of that. Did you forget I studied international relations in college? I do sometimes lol.
So! Here’s what I’ve learned so far in plotting my next romance/first spy novel. It’s nothing too deep, for the record. Because, despite it all, I’m still trying to have fun with something relatively mindless and give myself a chance to flex my writing muscles and eventually come up with an idea more in my wheelhouse. But who knows? Maybe this is the genre I should be writing. ;)
Photo by @stillnes_in_motion from Unsplash.
Fight Scenes
Okay, so I recently watched My Name on Netflix. It’s a Korean drama following a young woman avenging her father’s death. After watching, it made me realize I want to do four things:
Join a drug ring.
Learn MMA.
Kick the shit out of any man who so much as breathes in my direction.
Write a fight scene.
Lol, obviously mostly jokes. But writing a fight scene is not. Lucky for me a blog post from one of my favorite writers popped in my inbox at just the right time. Tl;dr the post: It gives 21 tips for writing a fight scene. And boy, was I wrong in assuming I knew how to do it.
My first false assumption was that writing fight scenes would be just like how they appear in TV and films. Well, writing that would not only be boring, but confusing. They punch each other. They punch each other. One wins. Etc.
There needs to be dialogue. There needs to be a switching from offense to defense. The reader should never know who is going to win. Weapons should be based on the environment the two characters are in. Surprises! Blood! Heavy breathing, breaks, stumbling, errors. The fight scene should have the readers on the edges of their seats.
I have a lot to learn when it comes to that, and I’m excited to write, edit, rewrite, and come up with a perfectly imperfect fight scene.
Spy Stuff (International Affairs)
So what does a spy actually do in the field? Well, “spy” is kind of a misnomer. A lot of work in the field is gathering intelligence, reporting back to headquarters, and being patient. It’s not all kicking ass, taking names, and killing “bad guys.” I read this fun article on what a clandestine services operation officer may go through in a typical day. And it’s not as glamorous as you may think. Still cool. But certainly not the stuff we see in James Bond and the like.
I mean, of course, it wouldn’t be. That would make for a pretty boring movie. But when it comes to a spy novel, I think it would make for an interesting examination of international affairs. How do foreign operatives interact in the field? How might an insider threat jeopardize a foreign-owned corporation? Add intrigue, a fight scene or two, and two characters falling desperately in love? I think you’ve got a pretty good novel on your hands.
Enemies to Lovers
For those of you familiar with romance tropes, you know there are several. Friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, secret billionaires, etc. I’ve only ever written the friends to lovers trope, but with this one, I decided the enemies to lovers trope would work for me best.
““All is fair in love and war.” It was in a way, I guessed. What I had trouble making sense of was, how did that apply when love was fake, and adversaries were left no choice but to join forces?””
It’s been a ride. How do you make two spies with conflicting interests and a burning desire to eliminate the other fall in love? Well, what I’ve learned is that love and hate can still result in one thing — lust. Oh yeah. Good, old-fashioned desire. What happens when you want the other so much it hurts? Hate and love, though opposite emotions, can burn pretty close to each other and the wicks might just intertwine.
I’m not trying to do anything stereotypical here. I feel like a lot of the romance novels I read rush the falling in love bit. Actually, I was shocked in my plotting when I realized there was no sexual desire between the two characters until about 14 chapters in. That’s not usually why folks read romance novels — they want that instant love, the undeniable desire for the other instantly, even if they resent it. These spies are professionals. They wouldn’t dare.
Love Triangles
I played with the idea of a love triangle for a minute there. I wanted my main female character to have to choose between the safe option and the dangerous one. But, in my research, I learned there are several elements required in a love triangle that I simply don’t have.
Photo by @cdd20 from Unsplash.
In a lot of modern, self-published romances, the perspective switches between the two main love interests. I decided to go with this layout because I wanted the reader to gain insight into the covert actions being undertaken. But, that makes it pretty obvious that the two main characters will end up together. That negates one of the most important aspects of a love triangle — the reader not knowing who the characters will end up with.
Think of the debate between Team Jacob and Team Edward in Twilight for example. Gosh, how that dominated my middle school days. But, before the series was nearing completion, readers genuinely didn’t know who Bella was going to end up with.
So, if I really wanted a love triangle, I could have gone with only one perspective, but I felt we would lose out on valuable information. I could have switched to third-person omniscient so we could see all thoughts of the characters, even the third in the triangle, but I wanted to try and write a more conventional romance that tends to stay in the first person.
Overall, I think I’ll ditch the love triangle idea. But that doesn’t mean unrequited love won’t exist ;)
So, as you can see, I have a lot of work (and a lot of fun!) ahead of me. This is especially refreshing as I’ve recently been accepted into an MFA in Creative Writing program, so I’ll be pretty busy starting fall. This will give me a good opportunity to delve into the less serious before being swamped for the next two years.
Thanks for tuning in after over a month of radio silence! I’ll try and be more regular, but you know how I am. No promises lol.
The usual plugs — my Patreon and my book! My book will be going to print soon, so be sure to grab a copy. Message me if you’d like a signed copy, and we can work out payment. Chat soon :)
