Spies, Criminals, and Writing The Dark World of International Espionage
“It’s the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies? Who can smell out the fox without running with him?” ― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Mostly, I’ll read a book on the subject in order to learn about what I want to write. It’s the best advice in the world if a writer wants to understand how to cobble a spy story together — read other people’s work.
Read similar works to what you want to write. Fiction, and non-fiction, You’ll see it and feel it, while you enjoy the story.
I opened a book with my morning coffee and began to read. I’m investigating a subject for a short story that I’m writing: I want to know how other writers handle the subject of spies, especially Cold War Spies and all that goes with it.
It really is a world of lowlifes, people who seem to lack morals to a degree that is beyond the comprehension of normal people.
It’s a complicated subject. Not only that, but it spans the whole world, and everything in it.
Thieves, drug-dealers, bank-robbers, and weird perverts galore fill the pages of these books; somebody lived that life, and got a…
