Rough Draft Cover For those who don’t know NaNo is short for NaNoWriMo, which is short for National Write a Novel Month. I’m writing a novel about Hong Kong in the 1970s.
There was a corrupt police force, all kinds of gang activity, refugees fleeing from the mainland, and of course my own little spin on it, a serial killer that leaves Tarot cards at the scene of the crime.
The novel takes place over 5 days, from June 4 to 8, 1973. I’ve got nearly 45,000 words done now, as you can see from the NaNo progress calendar on the sidebar, and hope to get up to about 60,000.
My goal is to release this in the Kindle Serials Program, and as soon as I get my final cover and the first to ‘episodes’ polished up I’ll submit them and see what the response is.
Until then, here are a few of the novel’s elements:
There was a corrupt police force, all kinds of gang activity, refugees fleeing from the mainland, and of course my own little spin on it, a serial killer that leaves Tarot cards at the scene of the crime.
The novel takes place over 5 days, from June 4 to 8, 1973. I’ve got nearly 45,000 words done now, as you can see from the NaNo progress calendar on the sidebar, and hope to get up to about 60,000.
My goal is to release this in the Kindle Serials Program, and as soon as I get my final cover and the first to ‘episodes’ polished up I’ll submit them and see what the response is.
Until then, here are a few of the novel’s elements:
Police Corruption
Rough Map of Hong Kong, 1970 Back in the 1960s and 1970s the Royal Hong Kong Police force was very corrupt. They’d routinely take bribes and kickbacks, and often wouldn’t even respond to a call without getting ‘tea leaves’ first, which they called their bribes.
This plays an integral part in my story, and one of the real life people I follow a bit is Peter Fitzroy Godber, who was an actual corrupt cop who fled Hong Kong in 1973. Each of the killings is also somehow related to police corruption.
This plays an integral part in my story, and one of the real life people I follow a bit is Peter Fitzroy Godber, who was an actual corrupt cop who fled Hong Kong in 1973. Each of the killings is also somehow related to police corruption.
Weather
My story takes place in June in Hong Kong. Anyone who’s been to a humid environment that’s in the sub-tropics like that knows that it’s quite hot. When you’re hot and sticky all day tempers can flare, and that plays a part in the novel.
Riots
Police Confronting Rioters, 1966 In 1966 and again in 1967 Hong Kong had several large scale riots. The whole reason they became the ‘Royal’ Hong Kong Police is because the Queen granted them that title following the ’67 riots.
Both clashes involved Leftists, or those favorable to the communist government in Beijing and who wanted to see similar policies in British Hong Kong. There are a few flashback sequences in the novel that deal with this.
Both clashes involved Leftists, or those favorable to the communist government in Beijing and who wanted to see similar policies in British Hong Kong. There are a few flashback sequences in the novel that deal with this.
Media
Looking Toward Kowloon, 1978 Nightly news broadcasts were just coming into vogue in the 1970s in Hong Kong, and the South China Morning Post also plays a role. When there’s a serial killer running around a city leaving Tarot cards on the bodies you know it’s going to start a media frenzy. And don’t forget all the corruption allegations they’re investigating too.
Gangs
Hong Kong has always had a long history with the Triads, gangs that deal in everything from prostitution to drugs to murder. My novel focuses primarily on one of these gangs, the Wo Shing Wo triad. There are lots of shootouts, action, and all that stuff you’d expect from a thrilling novel or Hollywood blockbuster.
Little Things
Tarot Reading from Novel There are a lot of little things that go into making a successful novel set in the past.
Things like the kind of cars the people are driving (the police have a ’71 Oldsmobile Cutlass while a ’69 Triumph TR6 and ’70 Plymouth Barracuda also make appearances) as well as locations (there are probably 20 to 30 streets names, several landmarks, and all kinds of other goodies people from Hong Kong will know).
All of these things as well as numerous others really make a big difference in an ‘alright’ novel and a ‘really good’ novel. I’m not sure what people will think of mine, but I hope they like it and buy a shit-ton of copies!
Things like the kind of cars the people are driving (the police have a ’71 Oldsmobile Cutlass while a ’69 Triumph TR6 and ’70 Plymouth Barracuda also make appearances) as well as locations (there are probably 20 to 30 streets names, several landmarks, and all kinds of other goodies people from Hong Kong will know).
All of these things as well as numerous others really make a big difference in an ‘alright’ novel and a ‘really good’ novel. I’m not sure what people will think of mine, but I hope they like it and buy a shit-ton of copies!
 1970 Plymouth Barracuda |  1969 Triumph TR6 |
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