Forums / About Writing /
Writing novels set in other countries

Hello,

Kody here, ever-lingering topic spam creator. I figured we'd discuss this.

Have you ever thought of an idea for a novel that you REALLY like, but have NO idea about the country, the customers, or how you'd write the thing?

I have a novella I wrote (twice) which I've now decided will become a novel in the future. It's set in Japan and involves a businessman who, one day, while out in his koi garden, discovers a young man near the pool. This young man has a horn of bone sticking out of his head, which is soon revealed to be the result of overprotective parents who considered said young man a 'kirin' (better known as the horned dragon in Japanese culture.)

But see, I fugre that I'll never be able to write it properly unless I visit the country.

So, put 'go to Japan' on list of things to do.

My second novel will be set in Iraq. It's basically the retelling of a true case that happened, which involved two young men (one known as AM, the other known as FM) who were sentenced to death by public hanging for the 'crime of homosexuality.' THese young men--fourteen and sixteen at the time of their original imprisonment--remained in jail for two years before they were finally executed. (Some foreign countries, particularly middle eastern and African, have death penalties for homosexuality--sometimes it's just men, but it's usually both gay and lesbian individuals.)

The only thing that scares me about the second novel is.... well, Iraq. Plus, I'd have to delve deeper into how said people are actually held, interrogated, and how they were... *gulp*...tortured for answers. (The whole reason they were in jail and killed in the first place is because a younger boy, about twelve, accused AM and FM of raping him.) The torture aspect doesn't appease me much, but... meh.

So, what about you all? Have you ever written (or plan to write) novels set in foreign countries? And if so, how did you study all the minor details? How'd you learn how to write their dialogue, or about specific things like food and how they live? How deep did you go?

I figure this'll be an interesting topic of dicussion.

Hmm, well your first novel sounds somewhat fantastical to me so in that case (if that is the case) then you don't have to be quite so accurate about it. Although I guess all that research stuff helps to make the story more realistic...

Your second one... regarding torture and all that, I reckon you could just do a little research into torture/interogation methods - not necessarily Iraq ones - pick the worst ones you can find and no one would be any the wiser. Heh. But again, depends how accurate/realistic you want it to be.

I agree with Jack that you don't need to go to a place in order to write about it. There's a wealth of information out there that will tell you all you need to know. Besides which, you might go to Japan, say, and find out today's Japan (or the place you actually visit) is not quite like the way you need it to be for your novel anyway.

As for me, the closest thing I'll come to to writing a foreign country setting will be a fantasy world in which everything will be made up anyway.

I've done a little of both. My first novel was set in brazil. While it's still on my list of places to visit one day I don't feel I need to for the novel. It's set in the distant future so pretty much their current culture has been mutated anyway, so it's no big deal. I did do a lot of research on their architecture and other things like that.

The sequel is based in Germany, where I have been. I don't know if that will effect how I write it however, as again, it's in the future.

I've written other shorter stories based in other countries. Most of which, with the great invention of the internet, I have been able to either research cultural behavior, or even talk to people from those countries to get a better idea of what life is like there.

The current novel I am writing takes place in Washington, D.C., a city I've only been to once, so I had to google, do the wikipedia thing. I also looked at tourism sites. Well, D.C. is always in the news, and I have the story set in the near future, so I'm constantly hearing what is going on there. There are other cities in the world like that, too. There are certain big events in a country's history that can be studied, that shaped the nation as it is today.

I will be writing a novel set partially in France and Germany for a good part of the story. I've been to both places. I lived in Germany for five years and was married to a German man for few years, so I know them better than the French, but I've studied a lot of the history of both countries. I didn't study them for the book, but out of curiosity.

I've been itching to write a story set in Israel, but I'm still brainstorming that one. I have a subplot of my current novel happen in Jerusalem, but that didn't require too much research. If I would write the prequel to the current story I'm writing, I would have my character travelling through the Middle East, including Iraq and Israel, before going to South America to find a cure for a disease in Africa. I guess I would have a lot of research, should I write the prequel, which is probably why I'm not writing it right now.