Fantasy and Espionage

No, not really, though mine is fantasy with some mystery, thriller and adventure, being set between a modern world and an old-fashioned one. But I'm not really sure what time period, or what genre, so I put it as adventure.
Your idea sounds really interesting, but surely it's a good thing if you can't find anyone else writing similarly to you? It means you're individual and original, and as you're split between several genres you can surf all the boards to find small tips for each bit. ^_^

Bells,

Yeah, hadn't thought of that! Hey look, I'm original... :)

I had a load of ideas for this year, but every time I started working on one, I came back to this one... So what's your story about?

I do have a "who's trying to kill so-and-so" side plot going on. The characters spend a good deal of time thinking about it and discussing theories, but it IS a side plot and is in the story only to create red herrings for the main plot.

So, no. :-)

But muchos kudos to you for working on an idea that I've never seen done before!

* hands you a golden spork *

I created a country... years ago now whose national industry was espionage and it's set in a fantasy universe - wizards, shapeshifters, fox-people, people with wings, etc. It's not exactly like yours, but it's nice to see other people blending fantasy and espionage together.

My plot for this years NaNo features a few, in fact. One of them is a stage magician (who actually is a very skilled illusionist - as in, he casts real illusions) who is also an undercover agent with the country. His main job is as a "recovery specialist" - he's a thief. ^_^ My main character is going to be trying to catch him. Meanwhile, two other agents are trying to cover the spy-thief's tracks and another agent basically tells the main character to back off, if he knows what's good for him. It's a side plot, but it means I get to play with my agents again. (A few were in last years NaNo too.)

___
NaNo 2006: Steel Bars - 59,233 words
Screnzy 2007: The Enchanted Forest - won
NaNo 2007: Turning Beetles into Buttons - 51,949 words
Screnzy 2008: Simple Gifts - 43 pages total & Butterfly - 9 episodes

Hi all,

Wow, cool to see that there are some other people blending fantasy with espionage/thriller. I'm a big fan of both, and I haven't seen many stories that include them, or at least not to the degree that I'm planning to. I kind of feel more like I'm writing an alternate history novel with espionage, as the world is very much based on the world of Ezliabethan England... Only with fairies and magicians openly out and about! :)

Would anyone be interested in reading a synopsis of the story and giving their opinion?

Sounds cool!

Mine is something of an adventure story, a fantasy basically because it's not set on Earth (although there's no magic, just different geography, different history, different cultures), and political - lots of political intrigue. I studied international affairs, and it had to work its way into my novel somehow. Write what you know, right?

http://www.shyviolet.net
http://www.shyviolet.etsy.com

So, anyone else writing in this genre? (Is it really a genre?)

Anyone else having any problems with the complexity of an espionage story?

Your idea sounds fascinating-- I'll be curious to see the results if you post an excerpt once things get rolling.

My story involves a fair amount of political intrigue, so various people are trying to get information about their rivals/enemies, which in some instances involves spying. However, it's not really the fun exotic kind of espionage, a la James Bond; instead it's mostly cultivating useful informants. I do have one character who is a diplomat sent to a foreign country, though, and she might turn out to be a little more proactive in her duties, so we'll see.

off-topic p.s.: I am very jealous that you live in Lyon. I visited it a few times when I was staying in Vichy, just to be in a city, and loved it. Not to mention that the food is spectacular! Luckily, I was staying with a French couple in Vichy, and the wife was lyonnaise, so she could make me quenelles and even homemade andouillette :-)

Thank you calante!! I'll let u know when I post an excerpt!

Main thing I'm finding difficult is the complexity of most political or spy stories... What kind of world are you writing in/setting it in?

P.S. Yeah, Lyon is brill! :) And the food is fantastic. How long were you here?

Joel

Hey, Joel! I'd love to read over your synopsis and give you my opinion...it sounds really cool! I'm writing...well...I wouldn't really call it espionage, though; more political intrigue. Blended with fantasy, of course. :-D My main character is a revolutionary conspirator seeking to overthrow the government from the inside. With magic!

Very cool idea. If you ever want to read about politics/intrigue etc, read George RR Martin's Game of Thrones. But I'm sure you've been told that already...

Crossing Over...

The boundaries between Heaven, Hell, and Earth are fading...and nothing will ever be the same.

NaNoWriMo 2007

Keesa,

Will send you a copy of the synopsis via Nanomail so you can tell me what you think.

Alex,

Glad you think it's cool! No, no one has told me to read GRR's Game, but I'm already a huge fan and is one of many inspirations (along with Robert Jordan, a lot of historical mysteries and more recently the Locke Lamora books).

Joel

Yeah, the complexity is hard. My various intrigues will probably be incredibly lame in the first draft, but if things go well otherwise, hopefully I'll be able to edit it into something that doesn't look like politics for dummies or something.

My setting is kind of an odd amalgamation of things, and I am not so good at describing it succintly. Which is unfortunate for you, but maybe this will help once we get to November 1st :-) Basically it's about an Outremer-like country which a) managed to survive and then b) was cut off because it started assimilating a little too much with the pesky infidels. The story begins several hundred years later, when various events create a strong possibility of reconciliation. But of course, not everyone likes that idea, and you know some of them are going to do whatever they need to do to sabotage any hope of it. There are a number of other threads in the story to do with this country's relations with other areas of their world, and hopefully all of this will come together in a lovely and satisfying conclusion. Or come 11/30 I will just have a serious mess on my hands!

I've also drawn a bit on the Roman Republic and on the late medieval/early modern Venetian republic for the structure of this society, because I decided that rather than just having a monarch and a bunch of nobles, it would be much more interesting to have a bunch of noble families who compete against one another. I haven't quite decided if there will be short-term elected leaders, like in Rome, or a lifetime appointment elected leader, like the Venetian doge. But either way, it's a society that is based on competition; hence, lots of intrgue and politicking :-) Or at least I hope so...

Re Lyon: I was in Vichy for about 4 months, and I made it to Lyon I think 5 times in total, just a day or two each time. Lyon is now on the very long list of places I want to spend much more time in. I just need to find a job that allows me to move to a new country every few years, haha.

I'm similar to you, just hoping that the intrigue will hold together through the first draft. Still, some comments from people on the boards have helped me to avoid most of the deux ex machina parts of the intrigue and make it more flowing. Either way, explaining it to anyone else is nigh on impossible! :)

Your setting sounds interesting. I didn't actually know what an Outremer kingdom was, so just wikipedia'd it! :) I like the Roman Republic/Venice angle as well, I also find that interesting for intrigue. My setting is closer to England under Queen Elizabeth, so the intrigue comes more from religious politics than standard politics.

RE LYON: I've never been to Vichy, though I hear its nice. I grew up over here, have lived in a few different places around the Lyon area, though am currently in Villeurbanne, on the north-east side of the city. And I think we'd all like that kind of job... :)

G RR Martin is good, and Karen Traviss for... I'll call it the politics of philosophy and morality, in the Wess'har saga.

I'v got a set of governments that are mixes.. some are monarchies, some are more based on republican Florence, and one on the Roman Empire. There's even a democracy off in the distance somewhere.
I want it to have intrigue, but I need a lot more background details before that would work.. oh, so much to do in the last week and a half!

I'm doing something similar but a lot less fantasy - in fact I consider mine to be SF, though it may end up being marketed as fantasy anyway (rolls eyes to heaven).

Mine's an alternate history sixteenth-century Europe - everything is as per our history apart from one major point, which is that a non-human species evolved in the Americas and so humans never settled there in any numbers, nor are the natives easily conquerable by Europeans. Hence no Aztec gold to plunder and a rather different Reformation (fueled by controversy over the "aliens" rather than rebellion against the papacy). One of my MCs works for a theatre company in Book One, but mainly it's about espionage and political intrigue.

So, yes and no. It's such an obvious era for spy thrillers, I'm surprised so little has been done with it. Good luck with your project - it sounds fun!

2006 Winner (undergoing revisions)
2007: Treasons, Stratagems and Spoils (alt history fantasy)

Three brothers, two murders, one stolen necklace - and a shipload of trouble!
~o~o~o~o~0~o~o~o~o~

I'd never done a whole lot of espionage fantasy. I mean, I had some spies in other stories (it was great fun with the palace flirt turning out to be the prince's personal spy), but that wasn't the main focus. This year's story involved a simple quest -- rescue the spy master from the dungeon. Spies are a lot of fun, I've found. They make interesting characters, though most were minor, such as the stable hand forced to flee and later deliver a message across the border, the innkeeper who constantly passes word along, and the guard who betrayed his own country for money. Main characters included the clever ambassador's daughter running everything from the background -- the entire family even. And the battle mage (and sometimes spy) who must pull off the rescue.

I did not have a real "bad guy" in this story. In fact, the king who might have been a bad guy is actually quite friendly; he just wants to teach the spies a lesson by beheading the spy master he caught -- even if she is related to royalty in the neighboring country.

"Be nice to the imaginary people. Don't kill too many." -- e-mail from my youngest sister, June 23, 2008

JABrown-your story sounds like one I'd be looking for when I shop for books. I love the concept.

I'm trying to write something that is a combination of political intrigue, espionage, and economic influence. Since I was studying the American Revolution at the beginning of November and how economics were a main cause, that somehow got incorporated into it, and then I found that dropping hints of conspiraces got me a ton of words. Unfortunately, I'm now in the middle of the story, and I know absolutely nothing more than the clues i randomly made up. I"m trying to figure out how they all connect. I don't even know what the main conflict is . . .

I'm not writing anything like that, but I'll let you know that would absolutely [i] love [i] to see more novels like that on the market. I'd buy that kind of plot in a heart beat, though I do not know if anyone else would....

Hi all,

Well first draft is done, just in time!! Yay! :)

Thanks to all of you who posted on here your positive comments. I'm hoping to get round to the second draft by the beginning of the new year and I'll see where I'm going with it. I'll let you all know if any of you will be interested???

So how did everyone else do?

Joel

Such a wonderful idea, my favorite book Kushiel's Dart does the same thing. The MC is a courtesan who is trained as a spy and when she is taken into slavery she becomes privy to a plot on her homeland and sets out to save it. It is delightful it is by Jacqueline Carey if you are interested i bet you could get inspiration from this. But yes i agree with the other there are just not enough novels like this. I simply do not have the talent to write intrigue it is too much for me i get lost in the politics but i love to read it! Let us know of any updates. Good luck and happy writing :)

"Inspiration doesn't care whether or not it's convenient for the artist."
"There are times when hope itself is an act of heroism. So here's to hope, and everyday heroes. "
-Jacqueline Carey

Visit www.mrsrigginspresents.blogspot.com for novel excerpts

Thanks! I haven't read any of the Kushiel's Dart though I've heard a lot about it. I may try and pick them up now.

I'll let you know how everything goes! :)

Thanks

Sounds neat. Mine is fantasy but my main character is essentialy a rogue, whose primary training is as a spy/assasin so, in that way it combines the two. This book has a specific plot in which she goes after revenge, however there will most likely be subsequent books in which she uses her abilities for espionage.

Guen,

sounds interesting. So why is she going after revenge? who was she trained by?

I'm currently taking a few days off writing anything, forcing myself to think through my world. On Monday, I'm going to start working on worldbuilding again so I've got it all settled for my rewrite in the next few weeks...

Who else is planning a rewrite towards the end of the year?

Hi all,

So how did your fantasy/espionage novels turn out? Anyone interested in swapping some chapters?

Joel