Jonathan Dyer's Blog: The Nick Temple Files, page 8

When the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, it took with it a sizable supply of bad actors available for fictional exploitation.  Convenient nests of villains like Stasi and the KGB either disappeared or got makeovers. The KGB, for instance, emerged as FSB, an acronym currently bereft of the sinister connotations of its predecessor. Writers of all sorts went casting about for a different set of villains.

W...

Today was one of those days, and I mean that the good way. I’ve been scratching around looking for the heart of Nick Temple File no. 7. I want to set it in 1970, so for weeks I’ve fixated on that year looking for an historic event around which I could wrap the next installment in the Nick Temple File series. No luck. It’s not that 1970 wasn’t an eventful year. It’s just that nothing ...

For most fiction, setting matters. I imagine some experimental fiction eschews setting in a way I’ve never considered, but my guess is that approach is the exception rather than the rule. The setting in which a story takes place provides context and contour, challenges and opportunities, imagery and metaphor. It influences the people and events in a story in a natural and coherent way that can both resonate with a reader...

Someone on Twitter recently asked about the need to describe the daily habits of a character in a work of fiction. Is it advisable to include details about eating habits, about dressing, about hygiene, about the myriad moments that comprise a character’s day or life? In my view, as with any other element in a work of fiction, the answer lies in the relationship of those details to the overall story. If the details contribute to the story in some...

One of the characteristics of the Cold War was the nuclear arms race and all that it entailed. From “sabre rattling” to “brinksmanship” to “mutually assured destruction”, the fact that two antagonistic countries possessed the ability to literally destroy the earth within a matter of a few hours was never far from the front of policy makers’ minds for at least three decades. A natural result of that state of affairs is...

It’s early November, 1956. Two men, both young foreign service careerists in Washington, D.C., meet at a small café for coffee and a donut before heading to work. It’s their habit to discuss the major foreign policy events of the day as a way of prepping for the dynamic and challenging work environment that is Foggy Bottom’s hallmark. They shake hands as they meet at the  café door. They step inside. Before reaching the counter to order, one...

Somerset Maugham, no lightweight when it comes to writing fiction, is supposed to have said, “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” That attribution astounds me. When I first came across Maugham’s quip, I thought, “Good God! I don’t have a chance!” Of Human Bondage is one of only two novels that I read cover to cover without stopping except as nature required and to make a brief call to my employer pret...

My work is all fiction, but the settings are generally real. For example, each Nick Temple File takes place in a variety of real locations. Berlin is often the focal point for those works, but I’ve used Mombasa, Paris, Prague, Garmisch, Washington, D.C., Monterey, Cairo, Rostock, Heraklion, and many other cities as additional or key settings. When I establish a scene’s setting I have to decide h...

As noted in this blog, I completed a collection of short stories in March. I’m shopping the collection around to see if I can generate any interest in it. In the meantime, I thought I’d release one of the stories here. You never know who might be reading this blog, right? So, to that end, “Gathering for Dinner” is below. I hope you enjoy it. Oh, and don’t try this at home!

GATHERING FOR DINNER

I kept running back and for...

My second trip to a divided Berlin was in August of 1983. I’d been to the city in 1975 on a brief visit with my father. The details of that visit were already a blur eight years later, but some enduring impressions accompanied me on my return trip. My second visit was to last for nearly three years, plenty of time to test those earlier impressions, form new ones, and store a myriad of details into my long-term memory.

Th...