Tag Archives: Norway

Travel as Writing Fodder

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Travel as Writing Fodder
Terry Odell

"Salome" Bergen, Norway.

“Salome” Bergen, Norway.

I’m back, and after a prolonged bout of de-jet-lagging, almost functioning again. Before I left, I made the conscious decision that this trip was a vacation. I had no plans to set a book where we traveled. Since I’m an indie author and I haven’t established a due date for the current WIP with my editor, I was free to leave the writing behind.

A week after arriving home, I still hadn’t opened the WIP. My critique partners had sent their feedback on everything I’d written. Their messages sat, unopened, in an email folder. Still no guilt.

Even if I was on vacation, the writer brain never really shut down. I’m willing to predict some of my observations and experiences will show up in a book eventually. Here are a few.

On approach

The Travel Process
Our trip began with a flight to Bergen, Norway. Lacking the Enterprise’s transporter, it was Denver to Frankfurt, then to Oslo, then to Bergen. Note to travelers: just because your ticket shows Bergen as your final destination, and because the luggage tags say that’s where it’s going, if you’re going through Norway, it’s not that easy. Something about not being part of the EU, I think, but your baggage is offloaded in Oslo, and you have wait to reclaim it, recheck it, go through passport control and security. And Norway wants everything scanned. We put our hand luggage through the same way we had in Denver, but here they wanted laptops, tablets, cameras, and even one of the Hubster’s lenses. Did they ask for all of these at once? No. They asked about laptops, etc., so we took out our iPads and they sent them back through. Then they asked if we had cameras, and we repeated the process.

We had 90 minutes between flights, and that wasn’t nearly enough given the size of the airport and how many different “stations” we had to find, so we had to get booked on the next flight (fortunately, there are frequent ones), and then figure out how to notify the tour company, which would be meeting our original flight, that we would be late. Helps if you’ve used a travel agent. Helps even more if said agent is your son.

Anyone seeing any plot complications, tension, conflict here?

Communication
Given Bergen is a lot closer to Europe than the US, most of the passengers were from what we’d consider “somewhere else.” I was impressed and embarrassed at how almost everyone could manage to communicate in English. We Americans expect to be understood (and if we’re not, we speak louder), but it’s an arrogant assumption. I made the effort to use my VERY rudimentary German where appropriate. The people I spoke with were good-natured about it and helped me out, but my mastery of their language didn’t come close to their mastery of mine, and they tended to answer me in English. We spent some time with a couple from the Netherlands, and they had little trouble switching from English to German to Dutch.

And, speaking of languages, the primary language on the trip was English, but they repeated all announcements in German and French as well. They offered listening devices to anyone requesting them, and they had staff translating all the lectures as they were presented, which were transmitted to the deivces. What if one of the translators was unreliable? Sneaking coded information to some passengers?

Well, How About Them Apples?
In books, coincidences have to be dealt with very carefully. When we were seated at dinner the first night, the couple next to us spoke “American” and, of course, we asked where they were from. “Colorado.” Could I use that in a book? I’m not sure it would be believable, but they were from the Denver area, so about 2 hours from where I live.

Suckling pig, carving station MS Spitsbergen

Food
Food, of course, has infinite possibilities. Our ship served all meals buffet style, and there was an abundance of choices. How would characters react to seeing a suckling pig at the carving station? Or five varieties of herring? Three flavors of ice cream (plus toppings, of course).

People
Then there are the characters. There’s the one who makes sure she’s right next to the guide on tours, asking constant questions designed to show off her knowledge of any subject imaginable rather than care what the guide’s answers were. Or the two young couples on a ship filled with predominantly “mature” individuals.

Okay, I’ve droned on long enough. And, as a thank you for reading this far, here are a few pictures. I’ll have more as I work through them, but it’s been slow going. There have been computer issues, which I’m “solving” by getting a new PC, but that’s another whole set of complications.

If there’s interest in me sharing trip details, since our stops were at places far from what most of us probably think of as cruise destinations. Have you ever been to Lerwick, Elduvik, Akureyri, Tórshavn, or Bakkagerði?. Have you ever heard of them? Could you find them on a map? I couldn’t have. Let me know and I’ll follow up with a more “travelogue” style post or two.

Storefronts, Bergen, Norway

Bergen, Norway, waterfront

Signpost, top of Mount Fløyen, Bergen, Norway

Bakkagerði street

Puffin, Iceland

Would you feel guilty taking a pure vacation, TKZers? Any questions about the trip?

Cover image of Deadly Relations by Terry OdellAvailable Now
Deadly Relations.
Nothing Ever Happens in Mapleton … Until it Does
Gordon Hepler, Mapleton, Colorado’s Police Chief, is called away from a quiet Sunday with his wife to an emergency situation at the home he’s planning to sell. A man has chained himself to the front porch, threatening to set off an explosive.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Using Fence Post Characters

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fortitude My favorite stories, written by me or someone else, are those dealing with characters best described as “fence post” characters which usually possess at least two or more of these traits: they are out of their element; in at least potentially in trouble: they have little or no idea how they got where they are; and have to rely on their skills and wits, to get out of the situation, though they appear to be ill-suited to do so. Think of a turtle on top of a fence post, if that helps. Sometimes a character like that can make, or save, the story you are telling, particularly if it just isn’t working otherwise.

I thought of this while binge watching a new dramatic series named Fortitude. It’s on the Pivot Network, which you’ll find in the equivalent of the nosebleed seats of your cable television system.  Fortitude is set in a desolate section of Solvard, a Norwegian territory; the title is the name of the small town where almost of the story takes place. Two murders bookend the first episode, and at first it looks like your typical whodunit which will be investigated by a barely competent sheriff who may well be in the tank for some special interests relating to tourism as well. Everything changes, however, in Episode Two, with the arrival of our “fencepost” character in the form of Detective Chief Inspector Morton. Brilliantly played by the criminally underappreciated Stanley Tucci, Morton is 1) an American; 2) an ex-FBI agent now working for the London Metropolitan Police; and is 3) investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of one of the murder victims, who is a British citizen in 4) a God-forsaken area of Norway that looks like Boston (or Columbus, Ohio) did last week. Morton’s arrival puts almost everyone concerned in high dudgeon, particularly the sheriff (at least at first), but there isn’t much anyone can do about it because of some treaty of some sort which gives Morton jurisdiction. Morton no sooner sets foot on the slippery ice when he starts uncovering things, frozen ground and non-stop snowfall notwithstanding. Think of a cross between True Detective and Twin Peaks (the television series, not the restaurant chain) and you’ll have a vague idea of where things seem to be going. Morton, however, out of his element but not out of his league, is the fulcrum which takes the story off in an entirely new direction.

You can do this in your own work. If your story or novel isn’t working, change up your primary character. Make them uncomfortable in their own skin. Change gender or race or education level, just for a start. Even a small difference taken to its conclusion, logical or otherwise, can change the character and or the story dramatically. Downsizing your character’s abilities, such as they are, and throwing them to the sharks when they can’t swim works even better. I read a book several years ago — and I apologize out front for not being able to recall either the name or the author (yes; I’m getting old) — of an Asian father whose daughter disappears while attending college in England. He doesn’t speak English but makes the trip, determined to find her, armed with little more than fortitude and a keen power of logic and observation.

I do recall the name of a short story — because I have read it at least once a year since it was published — which puts a somewhat unassuming turtle on top of a very dangerous fence post. I’m speaking of “Duel” by Richard Matheson. “Duel,” in case you haven’t had the pleasure, concerns duela motorist named “Mann” who is terrorized along several miles of highway by a trucker. The story was written over four decades ago, some eighteen years before the term “road rage” ever entered the nation’s lexicon, but still reads well. Mann is not Jack Reacher, or even his baby brother; he is totally out of his element and just wants to be left alone to keep driving. It doesn’t happen, of course, but what does will keep you reading. Steven Spielberg made an excellent attempt at capturing Matheson’s magic in a made-for-television movie, but you have to read the story to really appreciate what Matheson did so well.

Now, if I might ask…authors: have you tried this? And readers: have there been any fish out of water characters that you have enjoyed in novels, stories, or films? Please. Share with us.