Living in the World of Your Characters

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? 

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Carole Bellacera is the author of eight novels of women’s fiction.  Her first novel, "Border Crossings", a hardcover published by Forge Books in May of 1999, was a 2000 RITA Award nominee for Best Romantic Suspense and Best First Book, a nominee for the 2000 Virginia Literary Award in Fiction. It was also a 2000 finalist in the Golden Quill award and in the Aspen Gold Award and won 1st Place in the Volusia County 2000 Laurel Wreath Award.  Her short fiction and non-fiction has appeared in magazines such as Woman's World, The Star, Endless Vacation and The Washington Post. In addition, her work has appeared in various anthologies such as Kay Allenbaugh's Chocolate for a Woman's Heart, Chocolate for a Couples' Heart and Chicken Soup for Couples.  www.carolebellacera.com. Her books include; Border Crossings, Spotlight, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Understudy, Chocolate on a Stick, Tango’s Edge Lily of the Springs, and Incense & Peppermints. Her social media link is  https://www.facebook.com/Carole-Bellacera-273525089343467/

Based on the Book

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


Each year at this time, I get a kick out of looking at the Best Picture Oscar nominees with an eye toward how each story originated  This year, a record seven of the eight chosen films were based, at least partially, on books.

THE BIG SHORT
Michael Lewis' nonfiction bestseller about the housing and financial crisis of 2007-2008 was released in 2010, and Paramount picked it up three years later. Dialogue and data-driven, this is one of those films released just under the wire in December, presumably to be fresh in Academy voters' minds.

BRIDGE OF SPIES 
Another 2010 book, this true story of the Cold War recounts the politics and negotiations involved in trading an imprisoned Russian spy for an American POW. However, the movie borrows even more from the details given by the actual negotiator himself, James Donovan, in his book Strangers on a Bridge.

BROOKLYN
The only romance in the bunch, Irish novelist Colm Tóibin's 2009 tale is about an immigrant (appropriated named Ellis, as in the island) who comes to New York in search of a better life in the 1950s. Her affections are soon divided between her new home and the one she left behind. A secret marriage is involved, and those always tend to complicate things.

THE MARTIAN
This debut novel by Andy Weir was published in 2011. Those who remember Gravity from a couple of years back were pleasantly surprised when this wasn't simply one more Lost in Space. How a stranded astronaut (played by Matt Damon) conquers insurmountable odds through ingenuity, science and humor was lauded by no less than NASA for its technical accuracy. And as a plus, there were no aliens in sight.

THE REVENANT 
A revenant is something that returns after death or a long absence. The same could be said of the book this Leonardo DiCaprio film is based upon, The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, originally published back in 2002. It took author Michael Punke four years to write what he originally intended to be a political novel. He ultimately turned it into a chronicle about a real American frontiersman, Hugh Glass, who was left for dead by his companions after being attacked by a grizzly bear.

ROOM
Loosely inspired by a real-life incident of a woman held captive in a basement for 24 years, Emma Donaghue's fictional 2010 novel focuses on a young mom (played by Best Actress nominee Brie Lawson) and her five-year-old son, for whom the tiny room in which they're imprisoned has been his entire world. It's not a spoiler to say he gets out, and awakening to how big the real world is becomes an insightful eye-opener for the audience too.

SPOTLIGHT
In 2001, a team of investigative reporters for The Boston Globe followed up on a tip about a priest abusing choirboys. They went to court to obtain sealed documents and published their findings in 2002. The power of the press is the star of this film, though it boasts a full ensemble of familiar faces including Michael Keaton.

The remaining nominee for Best Picture, Mad Max: Fury Road is an original screenplay based on its own continuing sci-fi saga. It may not have made that great a read anyway, since its calling card is the constant visual stimuli of bombs and truck chases.

So over half of the books are based all or in part on actual events. Several (The Martian, The Revenant and Room) feature individuals stranded and endangered. And look how many of them have only one or two words in the title.  That's a tactic that can either help or hurt, but in this case, to say "The Revenant" or "The Martian" subtly implies that this is the revenant or the Martian that stands above all others. This Sunday, February 28th, we'll get to see if that is indeed the case.

For a musical mashup of all of the above, I hope you'll enjoy my latest tongue-in-cheek tribute to the 2016 Best Picture nominees, via this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UxNWCBknk0

See you in Tinseltown!

A Letter to a New Writer:

By Carole Bellacera

Dear New Writer:

I know the depth of your passion, that you want to publish a novel more than you want to keep breathing. That it is everything to you. I understand that because I felt the same desperation. I had stories inside me that were bursting to spring to life, and they did spring to life. But it wasn’t enough.

A writer needs readers, and just having written them without them being read meant, they were unfinished. But what if I told you that you’re expending your energy in the wrong direction? That being published isn’t what makes you a writer?

You are a writer the minute you put pen to paper or type words on a blank computer screen. You are creating something that didn’t exist before. Do you understand what a miracle that is? You are giving birth to a creation. That is what makes you a writer.

So, my advice to you is to write. And continue to write. Then write some more. It’s not all about publication, and contracts, and sales numbers, and prizes and fame.

It’s about writing—because you love it, because you have a passion for it, because you cannot not write.

You are a writer. Believe it, and believe in yourself. And if publication comes, don’t take yourself too seriously. Success comes and success goes. In the end, it’s not about being published; it’s about creating. You have given birth, so be proud of your newborn.

You never know…that baby could end up in the museum someday

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Carole Bellacera is the author of eight novels of women’s fiction.  Her first novel, "Border Crossings", a hardcover published by Forge Books in May of 1999, was a 2000 RITA Award nominee for Best Romantic Suspense and Best First Book, a nominee for the 2000 Virginia Literary Award in Fiction. It was also a 2000 finalist in the Golden Quill award and in the Aspen Gold Award and won 1st Place in the Volusia County 2000 Laurel Wreath Award.  Her short fiction and non-fiction has appeared in magazines such as Woman's World, The Star, Endless Vacation and The Washington Post. In addition, her work has appeared in various anthologies such as Kay Allenbaugh's Chocolate for a Woman's Heart, Chocolate for a Couples' Heart and Chicken Soup for Couples.  www.carolebellacera.com. Her books include; Border Crossings – Forge Books, May 1999, Reissue December 2011, Spotlight – Forge Books, April 2000, Reissue July 2012, East of the Sun,West of the Moon – Forge Books, July 2001, Understudy – Forge Books, June 2003, Chocolate on a Stick – Baycrest Books, Sept 2005, Tango’s Edge – CreateSpace, September 2011, Lily of the Springs – CreateSpace, March 2012, Incense &Peppermints – CreateSpace, May 2014