As a child, my Aunt Margaret gave me all the books from The Hardy Boys series, and I would look forward to devouring each and every one of those books as they came out. I also enjoyed the works of Mark Twain, though during my early teen years I did not read as much fiction, but rather, became more attuned to current event magazines such as Time Magazine, U.S. News and War Report, and various other international political type publications. Then, as a student at the University of North Carolina, I think it is fair to say that I delved into a more classical style of literature, and enjoyed classics such as Madame Bovary, The Metamorphosis, The Count of Monte Cristo, and various other classics along that genre.
Would you say your childhood and teenage reading has had a distinct influence on how you write fiction now, and why?
Yes, undoubtedly. Because I’m now penning geopolitical thrillers, I would say that my love both of fiction in my early childhood and later teen years and my current event reading all combined have had a profound effect on the way I write fiction and on the type of fiction that I love to write.
What did you do before you became a published novelist, and how did you come to write your first novel and get it published?
Before I started writing professionally, I first studied law at Campbell University and then served as a United States Navy JAG Officer for 5 years on active duty. While in the Navy, I completed the International Law curriculum through the Naval War College. After that, I went into private law practice. I still maintain my law license and practice law, although not as much as prior to writing my novels. Your question as to how I came to write my first novel is one that I get very often and is a very interesting story—pun intended.
Although I’ve always been an avid reader, and taking into account my experience with writing legal type manuscripts and briefs for the various courts across the country, I never really had any ambition to become a novelist until “lightning struck” on a cold January evening in 2003.
That evening of January 6th, I attended a party at a friend’s house in my new adopted hometown of Charlotte—what I now refer to as “My Epiphany Party.” Frankly, I had certain misgivings about even going to the party in the first place because, as a graduate of the University of North Carolina, I wanted to watch the UNC basketball game on television that evening instead.
But I acquiesced and once I was there, what I liked most about the party was that there were dozens of dazzling guests, all engaged in pleasant conversation, and in the midst of all the glitz and merriment, everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time.
I took advantage of the festive atmosphere, however, to slip downstairs, sort of undercover so to speak, and find a large flat-screen television so I could watch the game. I would come upstairs during the commercials and at halftime to make my appearance known, but then slip back down Houdini-style as each commercial ended, to watch more of the game.
Two hours later, UNC had won—Go Heels!—and I came back upstairs and resumed socializing with the other guests at the event.
The next day, however, I felt guilty that I may not have been the most gracious guest and tendered a note to the hostess. As I recall, I believe I quoted Dickens’s famous line from A Tale of Two Cities, thanking her for a wonderful party and indicating that “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” I don’t remember what else I wrote in that note, but I do remember that I received a letter a few days later in which the hostess said, “That was the nicest note I’ve ever received; you should write a book” and that’s how it all started. I just thought, “What the heck?”
The next day, I took out a beat up old laptop that I had purchased, second-hand, and sat down and quite literally began hammering out a World War II historical fiction novel with no idea of what I was doing, but soon discovered that the entire process was a ton of fun. That’s the true story. The whole truth and nothing but the truth!
How would you describe your style of fiction or your approach to writing fiction during your first few novels?
I would describe my style in two words – fast moving.
Perhaps this is the type of style that best fits action-packed novels, but I enjoy shorter, action-packed scenes, which alternate back and forth in an effort to create a fast-paced tempo to my books. I would say that my style is also simplistic in the sense that I am not looking to bamboozle anyone with too much flowery language, although I might throw a little bit of that in from time to time. I prefer simple, easy-to-understand language which, when coupled with the fast-moving pace, creates a fevered tension throughout my books that keeps readers on the edge of their seats.
How would you describe your style of fiction or your approach to writing fiction now?
My style has pretty much stayed the same in the first five novels—action-packed and fast-moving with interesting, multidimensional characters, although in my latest novel, Thunder in the Morning Calm, I have added another layer to my writing by focusing more specifically on the interplay between all of my characters—the character relationships. I have done this perhaps in part to tap into the strong appeal of character-driven novels, but also I believe that this has occurred as a natural consequence of my growth as a novelist. Zach Brewer and Diane Colcernian from the Navy Justice Series and The Malacca Conspiracy had strong reader appeal as did Navy Commander Pete Miranda in Black Sea Affair, so it only made sense for me to take it that step further and to infuse more emotion into my two most recent novels, Thunder in the Morning Calm, which came out in August of 2011, and Fire of the Raging Dragon, which is due out in 2012. We shall see how this works for me. Seems to be working so far. I have had some very positive reviews for Thunder.
Was your first published novel stand-alone or part of a series, and what advantages or disadvantages did this present for you?
I think that for a new novelist, a series is more advantageous in that the contract for a series gives the novelist an opportunity to establish his or her name recognition over the several published works.
With a stand-alone novel, however, it can become more difficult unless the stand-alone, for whatever reason, happens to hit the jackpot on that first time around which is statistically an unlikely event. Therefore, I myself am a fan of the series because I believe that it gives the author a better opportunity to establish an ongoing relationship with readers over time and over the course of these several novels.
Did you find writing your second novel easier or more challenging than writing your first novel and why?
My second novel (as well as each novel thereafter) has been made easier, at least to a degree, because of the additional practice I received. One becomes somewhat more efficient as a writer with the practice of repetitiously putting pen to paper. I suppose it’s like anything else and while practice does not necessarily make perfect in the field of writing, it certainly does increase efficiency if the writer works at his craft each and every day.
I once heard a colleague of mine, T. Davis Bunn, state in a keynote speech that if one is going to become a writer, one must write every day. There is truth to what Davis is saying, as I have discovered firsthand. I typically write at least 500 words a day although ideally I’d like to hammer out 1,000 words every day. Some day’s life just gets in the way.
I frequently have to field the question of “writer’s block,” with many people wondering whether or not that is something that has affected me. I can say that I am fortunate not to have suffered from that yet, but I don’t want to become too cocky and say I never will. I suppose that it’s possible that if one were paralyzed by the literary symptom known as “writer’s block,” that could make a second, third or fourth novel more difficult. But, I do fall back on my premise and my belief that writing becomes easier, or at least, less of a challenge the more writing an author has under his or her belt.
Who is another novelist whose fiction writing you admire and why?
That is a difficult question in many respects because there are so many novelists whose fiction-writing I admire. My favorite literary genre is historical fiction. This being the case, I am particularly intrigued by the writing style of W.E.B. Griffin whose The Corps series, which chronicles the U. S. Marine Corps in the Pacific Ocean during WWII, is gripping. W.E.B. Griffin does a fabulous job of describing minute details concerning the military during that era from the color of boots to the shine on a buckle, even to the description of a gun being used by American Marines and Japanese forces as well. And for my friends “Down Under,” as an aside, Mr. Griffin describes with fascination the heroic and invaluable work of the Australian “Coast Watchers” in that war.
I also have very much enjoyed the work of several British novelists and admire the style of Edward Rutherfurd, who writes sweeping historical fiction in the mold of James A. Michener. Rutherfurd’s novels are rather long, but his ability to paint pictures with words is outstanding. Similarly, I enjoy the splendid verbal imagery pinned by the English author, Patrick O' Brian, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. His breakout novel, Master and Commander (1970), presents some of the most poignant war imagery that I have ever read. Although I think that perhaps at times, O’Brian goes into so much detail that it may actually bog down the storyline, I love his work nonetheless. Come to think of it, perhaps I have an affinity for the British novelists more than I had realized.
Pick a series of novels you have written. How would you describe what makes that a cohesive series with strong appeal for readers? If you have not written a series of novels, how would you describe what makes one of your favourite series by another novelist a cohesive series with strong appeal for readers?
I suppose that I would select the Navy Justice Series, that series, having been based partially upon my experience as a Naval JAG Officer examines the question of radical Islamic-terror infiltration within the United States Military. This is the thread that binds the first three novels and is also a thread that helps gain international recognition for the books.
I had decided to write Treason, published in 2005, in part as a warning to the public about the potential dangers of such radical infiltration. Please allow me to emphasize the phrase – radical - because I am by no means attempting to impugn the integrity of most people who call themselves Muslim, including a number of my own Muslim friends, by using that phrase. I’m speaking of radical terror groups such as Al-Quaeda. Unfortunately, when the shootings occurred at Fort Hood, TX in 2009, this brought national and international attention to Treason because many had said that the novel “predicted” Fort Hood. Treason at that point shot to the No. 1 position on the Amazon Best Sellers list nearing the week of Thanksgiving in November 2009 and remained there for an entire week, having been propelled there by the events, which many had said it forecasted. I would say that the cohesiveness of the series, which makes for a strong appeal, is the fact that I put a lot of research into geo contemporary issues, which are essentially what I call the “boiling power peg” about to explode on the international scene, but yet, of which most people are still unaware.
For example, my novel, Black Sea Affair, which was released in June of 2008 contained within it a limited war that erupted in Georgia’s Ossetia, between Russia and Georgia. Then two months after the book was actually released, in August of 2008, such a war actually did erupt. Once again, there were those who said that the novel “predicted” a future event, and Black Sea Affair also, for a period of time, was rated in the Amazon top ten list for fiction. Here again, I believe this was as a result of the perception that the writing was so realistic that it “predicts” future events.
Now in terms of a favorite series by another author, I will go back to The Corps series by W.E.B. Griffin. I think that in many cases, a strong character appearing from one novel to another in any series can serve as the thread which holds the series together; hence, the appeal of character driven novel. In The Corps series, that character is Ken McCoy who begins the book as a lowly Corporal and then works his way up into the Officer ranks. Tom Clancy does some of this with Jack Ryan, his best-noted character, although Clancy’s novels tend to be more stand-alone, but with characters such as Jack Ryan appearing from one novel to the next.
In the internationally bestselling Left Behind series penned by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, there are a number of characters, but the storyline there, at least in my opinion, propels the series along. I’ve read every one of those books and enjoyed that series tremendously.
How would you summarise one of your novels in one paragraph?
I would summarize my most recent release, Thunder in the Morning Calm, as follows: A United States Naval Intelligence Officer, assigned to the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) battle group in the early 21st century by the name of Gunner McCormick is called in for a top secret pre-deployment briefing as the Harry Truman is about to be deployed into the Yellow Sea for a joint Naval exercise with South Korea. During that briefing, he discovers something very disturbing. A top secret memo reveals that the United States may have left American prisoners of war in North Korea at the end of the Korean War. Gunner’s grandfather, whom he has never met, disappeared at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the early 1950s. Disturbed and bothered by the revelation which he has learned during that top-secret meeting, Gunner decides to take 30 days leave and spend his personal family fortune to finance a secret and dangerous commando mission north of The Korean Demilitarized Zone to search for clues as to what happened to his grandfather.
How would you describe the appeal of this novel to readers?
As I touched on before, I believe part of the appeal of Thunder in the Morning Calm is in the strong emphasis that I have placed on the personal and familial relationships between the characters. From the main character— Lieutenant Commander Gunner McCormick’s relationship with his mother and grandfather, as is initially played out through his mother’s lingering feelings for her long, lost father, to the brotherly relationships between the prisoners of war and the unlikely trio of rescuers including McCormick and his ragtag pair of comrades in arms, I tried to make each reader feel as if they could relate to the characters and have ownership in the story.
Another way in which the novel appeals to readers is through the relevance of the historical events as depicted here on the beliefs of the today’s readers, particularly as relates to the treatment of POWs and the fact that so many POWs have gone unrecognized. In my opinion, these two issues are of immeasurable significance to the educated and caring readership of today.
How would you summarise a chapter from this novel in one paragraph?
I would describe the prologue of Thunder in the Morning Calm as depicting the very graphic and brutal reality of the North Korean prison camp nearly 60 years after the end of the war, and the effect that camp might have on elderly Americans, or elderly Australians or Canadians or any other allied soldier who may still be alive and living in such a camp, now perhaps late in life, probably in their early to mid-eighties.
The opening chapter is an attempt to describe the brutality of North Korean prisons and is based upon considerable research from numerous sources, including having researched reports from Amnesty International, which has condemned North Korean prison conditions as recently as May, 2011. One of their reports indicated that some conditions are so bad in North Korean prisons that some prisoners have to kill rats and eat them to survive, yet the international community does little, or has been able to do little to address the severe infraction on human rights. Therefore, the opening chapter of Thunder in the Morning Calm is designed to attempt to capture the reality of the harshness of those camps and how the harshness of those camps would weigh upon any elderly American or allied soldier who may still be there nearly 60 years after the war’s end.
How would you describe the contribution this chapter makes to the novel?
This chapter sets the scene for the entire novel, because the reality of such prison camps, and the possibility that Americans may be left there, is what drives Lieutenant Commander Gunner McCormick in his quest from the beginning to the end of the novel. The chapter also contributes to the novel because again, one of the things that I am attempting to accomplish through this novel, as I did in Treason, and the novels of the Navy Justice series, is to call attention to an unfortunate and dangerous realty that the public simply does not pay attention to.
Many do not realize this, but the United States currently has more than four times as many MIAs (missing in action) from the Korean War – over 8,200 – than it does the Vietnam War, approximately 1,600. That’s incredible if you think about it. Korea, in which active combat lasted for 3 years, has four times more MIAs than Vietnam in which combat lasted for over a decade. The question on our minds should be what happened to those men that disappeared in Korea.
During the course of my research for the book, I discovered that there have been numerous reports of elderly Americans having been spotted in North Korea in the fifty to sixty years since the end of the war even though the North Koreans denied at the time that they had any American or South Korean soldiers in military prison camps. That reminds me – the United States also denied at the time of the end of the war in 1953, that any Americans had been left there.
However, in the mid to late 1990s, at least three events confirmed this statement to be at question. First, in 1996, the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, released previously classified documents revealing the truth that the United States knew of at least nine hundred Americans that were left behind in North Korean prison camps in 1953, even though the government still denied it.
Secondly, two elder South Korean prisoners who had been prisoners of war in North Korean camps since 1953 actually escaped North Korea and returned to South Korea with their families. This incredible escape proved beyond any reasonable doubt, along with the revelation of the Eisenhower Library, that both the United States Government and the North Korean Government had not been truthful in reporting the status of American and South Korean prisoners in North Korea at the end of the war.
And lastly, an administration official working for the Department of Defense on the POW-MIA issue in North Korea resigned his position, stating that he could no longer support the official government position that there wasn’t enough evidence to conclude that no Americans were still in North Korea. As recently as 2006, there continued to be reports of elderly Americans sighted in North Korea. Therefore, the opening chapter is designed to serve as a thread throughout the novel by constantly bringing attention back to this disturbing premise of the novel, that some of the Americans may have been left behind in North Korea.
Author website: www.donbrownbooks.com
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