Non-Fiction Inspiration

It's either a well-known fact or a well-kept secret, but I'm a geek at heart. My favorite books are (gasp) non-fiction. My favorite shows, too. My friends and family will testify that my geeky knowledge of history and reality are pretty impressive. Or annoying- it depends on who you ask.

I've always been that way. I grew up reading loads of non-fiction, biographies, and history mostly. They're still my go-to books. Whoever first said "truth is stranger than fiction" was 100% right. 

Alternately, Tom Clancy inspired a lot of my writing. His Jack Ryan books all sit on my shelf. He once said, "The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense." He was right, too.

And I love it! There are so many great stories in our real-life history. Conveniently for me, I also get to use non-fiction stories as inspiration and background for my books. I confess I'm more intentional now on the non-fiction I read so I can make the most of my time. There are a lot of books to read!

Here's a prime example. I'm starting preliminary research for a book that uses codes and ciphers, so I read a fabulous biography of Elizebeth Smith-Friedman. She, along with her husband, William, helped develop the art of modern codebreaking in the early-mid 1900s. Don't believe me? The auditorium at the National Security Agency is named after them. Great story, great book, great Americans!

I thought I'd learn about codes and code-breaking, which I did. Well, maybe a little- even a hundred years ago that stuff was really complicated. And they did it by hand!!

But in the meantime, I learned a ton of stuff that will help with writing two different books. Kind of a bonus to writing a long series!

First, she was the point person in decrypting the codes used by rum runners and smugglers during prohibition. Her testimony in court was so good it destroyed several big-league smuggling rings. I have a future book planned based on an Al Capone theme, so she gave me some insight. 

The book I'm working on now is about modern-day Nazis. I knew that too many Nazis escaped to the friendly confines of South America after WWII. What I didn't know was that A) lots of run-of-the-mill Germans emigrated there prior to the war to escape the economic disaster that was post-WWI Germany, and B) the Nazis wanted to form a coalition of fascists in South America to use it as a staging point to invade the US. 

Turns out, one of Elizebeth's greatest accomplishments was breaking the Nazi codes (including Enigma), which allowed the US to interrupt Nazi operations in South America. It's not what I was looking for, it was just there...and incredibly helpful.

 Serendipity, I say! Two for one! How will I use what I've learned? With any luck, you'll find out in a couple of years.