Spying a Great Story
guest blog from Maz Evans
Ever since I was young (back in the Stone Age), I have LOVED spy stories! Who wouldn’t?! All those cool gadgets, high-speed chases, dastardly villains, super cool secret agents… I was hooked!
So it’s no surprise that now I’m a big, hairy grown-up, I wanted to write some spy stories of my own. This month I’m celebrating the release of the third and final title in my Vi Spy series, The Girl with the Golden Gran. Vi (Valentine Day) has always wanted to be a spy – but has faced a lot of challenges along the way. In the first book, Licence to Chill, Vi’s mum refused to let her – which was a bit rich given that her mum, Easter Day, was the best spy of her generation. Then in Never Say Whatever Again, Vi was finally accepted to Rimmington Hall, the country’s top spy academy, but struggled to make the grade. In this latest adventure, Vi and her family find themselves accidently launched into space, where they must hunt down evil overlord Umbra before they can hold the world to ransom with a mind-control machine…
I have loved writing this series and I’m so pleased to see so much love for spy adventures out there. I hope you might consider writing your own spy mission – and if you do, here are some things for you to think about.
I need a hero(ine)…
As with all stories, we need a compelling lead character – called a protagonist if we’re being posh – who we’re really going to get behind as they battle to save us all. Now this doesn’t mean we have to like them from the get-go – some of the best protagonists in books aren’t always very likeable at the start. But we have to be compelled by them – and it helps if we grow to love them over time.
Your spy might well be a young person – if so, how are they going to be a spy? Are they doing it in secret? Are they in a world where kids can be spies? Are they giving the adults a run for their money? Your story can be as fantastical as you like, but it has to make sense. Vi’s family is full of spies, so it’s in her blood. Let your characters do whatever they want – but give them a good reason for doing it.
Also, it’s really important that your character has a flaw. Even the coolest spies have a weakness – James Bond is a bit daft when it comes to girlfriends and Johnny English is hopeless at… well, just about everything! Making your characters flawed makes them more human – it also helps you to put problems in their way, which is what all good stories need.
We’ve been expecting you, evil villain…
Any story is only as good as its baddie and this is never more important than in the spy genre. I love writing my villains and I had a lot of fun in my series creating EVIL, the Ex Villains Improvement League, which is full of supervillains who are trying to lead a better life. Your main villain has to have a dastardly plot – and we’ve got to believe they are capable of delivering it.
But in the opposite way to your hero, it’s okay to like our villains. We don’t have to agree with them – indeed, I hope we don’t! But a charismatic villain jumps off the page more readily than a straight up monster. And as villains often have a public face that disguises their evil alter ego, they’re going to have to get along with people.
Pay attention – it’s time for the gadgets…
One of the best things about writing in the spy genre is the cool stuff you get to create! Your spy is going to need to be tooled up for their mission – and they’ll probably need another character to give this to them. This is common in quest stories – which spy stories closely resemble. Our protagonist usually meets someone who gives them what they need for the journey ahead. Think Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings, or the Lady of the Lake for King Arthur, or of course, Q in James Bond.
Now this is where you can let your mind run wild! I gave Vi her Eye-Spy, a spy watch that can do anything from unlock a safe to blow up a building! Some spies also have a vehicle that helps them on their mission, as well as weaponry to fight the good fight. If yours is a comedy story, you can have a lot of fun with this – wouldn’t the world be better if guns only shot custard pies…?
And your final mission is…
… to have fun with it! Part of understanding the rules of spy stories is knowing when to break them – and I really enjoyed this aspect of Vi Spy. For instance, most spy adventures involve a high-speed car, boat, helicopter or motorcycle chase. So I flipped this on its head and had Vi engage in a very low-speed mobility scooter chase with her Nan…
I have had so much fun spending time with my super spies and I hope that you will too. I wish you all the luck on your future reading and writing missions – because I truly believe that reading and writing are the key to saving the world.
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