I am writing a book, ask me anything about it

[BigMcLargehuge]

Some folks have contacted me about the book I am currently writing (when not modding or working on Instructional Designer type stuff). Most of the questions are about when and if it will be published, have I talked to an agent, when will it be done, and will I put more online here at DU for people to take a gander at.

However, some folks have more questions about the content of the book or the writing process, etc…

So rather than jump back and forth between several DU mails I figured it might be cool to pop this thread up and let you all ask away. I’ll answer whatever I can to the best of my ability in as much detail as possible in the time allotted.

For those not familiar with any of this let me offer a brief synopsis of the book.

Hideki Kubo is conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army at 18 and begins his training just as the Japanese invade China from Manchuria. He is whisked off to China as part of the 9th Battalion and begins the march on the capital, Nanking. With is friend Jiro at his side, Kubo witnesses and participates in the greatest atrocities of the Second Sino-Japanese war. At first reflective on the madness to which he bears witness, Kubo slowly accepts his role as a cog in the Japanese war machine, and becomes an all too willing participant in the massacre.

The book is meant to explore why otherwise normal young men can willingly participate in great evil, and what effect, if any, it has upon them. The book is not meant to either bash or glorify the Japanese military, but to tell a personal story within a hellish atmosphere.


For those of you who would like to see excerpts –

Chapter 21 (complete)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=1779357&mesg_id=1779357

Chapter 22 (parts)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=1832388

For those interested in the historical background of the Rape of Nanking look here, be warned, it’s very graphic –

http://www.cnd.org/njmassacre/njm-tran/index.html

That said, I welcome your questions.

[Wat_Tyler]

1. How long has it taken you?

I've been working on notes and background for a novel for about two months, and I've yet to write a proper line of dialogue. Still, I have hundreds of pages of research.

[BigMcLargehuge]

2. I started reading up on the subject matter out of curiosity 2 years ago

I started writing the book in March of this year.

[Wat_Tyler]

3. That's not bad. I figure, once I've got all the research and structure,

the actual book should take about six months.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

4. My questions are in regards to the research porcess. How much reading and

studying has been involved? Are you working from one primary source or many or none?

[BigMcLargehuge]

5. about 2 years of research

though for a good part of it I didn't realize I was researching, it just sort of congealed that way. As for the number of sources... hmmm...

Well, I've read and glossed (I own these)-

The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of WW2 by Irish Chang
Unit 731-Testamony: by Hal Gold (about Japanese Biological Weapons unit 731 in Pin Fang) - This historical place/event is what led me eventually to Nanking...
The Good Man of Nanking: The Diary of John Rabe, John Rabe (A Nazi who saved a few hundred thousand people as leader of the Nanking Safety Zone Committee)
American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Life of Minnie Vautrine, can't remember the author's name off hand, but a bio of Ms. Vautrine the president of Ginling Women's College in Nanking

I've read and taken notes on (these are library books) -

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, can't remember the author, a book about Japanese culture
Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army, can't rememer the author, a book specifically about the formation, administration, and actions of the IJA from Meiji to the end of WW2
Japanese Fairy Tales, can't remember the author's name, a book of traditional Japanese fairy tales (I used these to help establish parables within the book)

Documentaries I've studied and taken notes on (watched on TV or video)-

Hell in the Pacific, the first part was about Japanese expansion and Nanking
The Nazi of Nanking, a History Channel documentary about Rabe
Why We Fight: The Battle for China, a US propaganda film from 1941 directed by Frank Kapra that features some of John Magee's smuggled movies of the Rape of Nanking
History Undercover: Unit 731
Bataan, a documentary about the survivors of the Bataan death march
Samurai, a documentary about Bushido that closes with a detailed look at how the warriors code was corrupted for the IJA that helped lead to the Rape of Nanking
Tales of the Gun, weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army
Infantrymen, a look at American, British, German, and Japanese infantry in WW2

People I've interviewed -

T.F. Mou, Chinese film director of Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre (the DVD for which I wrote the special features), and Man Behind the Sun, a docudrama about Unit 731 (interview available at www.horrorview.com)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. Wow - and , I take it you've spent alot of time, through you're appreciati

ion of Japanese culture to add the color to the story?

My next question is - where did you begin?

[BigMcLargehuge]

7. where did I begin? Good question...

(sorry for delay, has a business lunch to attend)

The story begins just before the Hideki Kubo is conscripted.

As for the writing process, it began one night while I was working on another story, which in and of itself isn't so strange; upon which I had this idea for a scene where two Japanese soldiers are picking through a field of the dead and come upon a wounded Chinese soldier, stretcher him back to the field hospital, where he is killed by a senior officer.

I wrote it, at least fleshed it out, but it wasn't enough to take my mind off of the characters or setting. So I started writing little bits of stuff in my notebook (I always carry a little notebook around) and before long I had some character sketches and a high-level outline.

With that in hand I sat down and wrote the first scene.

As for appreciation of Japanese and Chinese culture... I've always had a fascination with both.