Why I write about WWII

The first World War II book I ever read was Up Periscope by Robb White. It was first published in 1956 and was later made into a great movie starring James Garner. Raise your hand if you know who Garner is. It was a Scholastic Reader book I bought with my allowance in the fifth grade (about 1962). No snickering, please. A couple of years ago, I was able to find a copy on Amazon and I reread it. It was quite fun. 

Other things that I loved were the TV shows Combat! and 12 O'clock High. Occasionally, on Saturday morning, one of the Kansas City stations showed WWII movies, not all of them with John Wayne, but many were. The land battles, especially those with tanks, were exhilarating, the submarine movies tense, the dogfights incredible. I was always awed by the credits scrolling by at the end thanking the Department of the Navy, or the US. Army, etc. Wow! They approved this movie! Finally, let's not forget the Rat Patrol!

On top of all that, there were two fabulous comic books about WWII: Sgt. Rock and Sgt. Fury. A few blocks from my apartment was a used comic book and record shop. Most of my meager weekly allowance was spent there, handed over with glee to the small, dark-haired man behind the counter. If I had to choose between a comic book or a Coke (a real green-glass bottle), the comic book won.

We're all products of our past. So is my writing. My fascination with WWII had its genesis as shown above. As I grew older, the fascination didn't abate, I just changed sources. In high school and college I studied some history and military history. In 1977, at age 25, I first read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer. I own the 1960 version, not the abridged version. I have subsequently read it twice more, all 1,242 pages of a view into utter evil. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to learn more about WWII.

Fast forward a few years:

In late 2001, Band of Brothers appeared on TV for the first time. I watched every episode, entranced by the story, but completely enthralled and impressed by the interviews of the men. To hear their own words gave me a deeper insight into soldiers. 

A couple of months before my first short story sale, He Wasn’t Always Old, I knew, instinctively, that I would write about WWII. This was in the fall of 2003. I'd been mulling over ideas and settled on a character who would be in the army. My original plan was to then follow his life throughout the war, then on to the postwar years. The question arose as to who this guy would be, and I chose to make him a sergeant and a member of the new U.S. Army Rangers. 

Once I had that information, the rest came down to building his background, and then creating the story line, also known as the plot. When I'm working on a book, I use Excel to build the plot as opposed to a narrative outline. This works for me. 

Some writers swear they don't plot, and I'll take them at their word, but for me, I have to know where the book is going. This doesn't mean I don't change the plot because I always do; that's the creative part of writing, but without the plot in Excel, I can't keep track of who's where and when, etc.

I wrote the first 125 words of what would become Operation Devil’s Fire on November 11, 2003 (Veteran’s Day). Now, here we are 18 plus years and 15 books later.

It's my goal to provide my readers with several things in each book:

• a fast-paced book with lots of battle action.
• characters you can love (and care what happens to them) and others you can hate and want them to get their just rewards.
• tidbits of facts interwoven within the story.

From the feedback I receive from readers, it seems I'm on target.

Today, I'm working on the 16th Sgt. Dunn novel, which is untitled (as they always are early on, but to which I refer as sd16). I didn't set out to recreate Sgt. Rock and Sgt. Fury. Our Sgt. Dunn is clearly defined in my head and in the books, and while I owe part of my WWII fascination to Sgts. Rock and Fury, Sgt. Dunn is his own man.  

Thanks for stopping by today.