By Carole Bellacera
Before I wrote the first
line of my novel, INCENSE & PEPPERMINTS, I immersed myself in the world of
the Vietnam War. Not because I necessarily wanted to, but because the subject
matter of a combat nurse in Vietnam scared the bejesus out of me. I
wasn’t sure I was up to the task, and this book was so important to me, I knew
I had to do it justice. So, for three years before I started writing, I
researched this book.
I watched every movie
about the Vietnam War—and believe me, that wasn’t easy. The gruesome
scenes of combat, the violence of sudden ambushes, the horrific torture and
rape of Vietnamese women—it wasn’t for the weak-stomached. But I watched
those movies without flinching, knowing that if I were going to write a book
set during such a wrenching conflict, I had to make it true-to-life—no glamorization
of war, simply because, at the root, this was a love story.
I delved into books
written by actual combat nurses who served in Vietnam. I watched
documentaries about those heroic women who served their country, and came home
forever scarred by what they lived through. I contacted one of those
nurses through the internet, Barbara Pendleton, and we struck up a friendship.
We talked on the phone, and through email. She patiently answered
my questions, and told me some wonderful anecdotes of her year at the 24th
Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh. And most importantly, she agreed to
read the rough draft to catch any inconsistencies or outright mistakes.
Finally, I was ready to
write my story about Lieutenant Cindy Sweet. It helped that I’d actually
been in the Air Force during the Vietnam War--although I wasn’t a nurse, but a
med tech, and I served in Crete rather than Vietnam. (Huge difference!)
But I knew the lingo, and I knew the time period of the early 70’s. And I
also knew the kind of woman Cindy Sweet was—innocent, idealistic, brave, and
with a passionate desire to serve her country.
As I wrote, I listened
to music from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. You’ll see many
references to these popular songs in the book. For me, music really builds
the world of my characters. For the 24th Evac hospital, I found photos
on the internet, and that helped me put my characters in that setting.
Having served on a few different air force bases, all in hospitals, I was
able to imagine what the base looked like.
My four years spent at
Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii as a military wife helped me immensely with the
scenes set at the Arizona Memorial, Diamond Head, and the coastal drive around
Oahu when Cindy goes there on R&R.
Research isn’t difficult
when your heart is in a book. You live and breathe your setting.
You make it come alive. You give the book depth and passion.
And when you do that, you make your book come alive for your reader.
And isn’t that what it’s
all about?
_________________________________________________________________
