Guest Post: Writing Short Stories That Involve Military People

Hi all. Today my guest poster is author Joan Regen. Joan lives in the New York metropolitan area, is an award-winning published photojournalist, has short suspense stories in Anthologies—two are historical in theme—and teaches English as a Second Language to students around the globe. She published JAMIE IS AUTISTIC (Spanish and English) and GO FOR IT LEADERSHIP HANDBOOK for which she’s doing webinars and podcasts and is crafting a historical suspense series set in World War II. Her latest endeavor is The Write Rules, which is in the London Consortium of Libraries. Joan has three master’s degrees and 30 years of corporate communications/journalism expertise. She trains professionals, all levels, in the nuances of entrepreneurship. Go, Joan!

My first foray into short stories involving the military was The Last Hurrah of General Jackson, which was inspired by my beloved uncle, my personal hero, who fought for his country in the Italian and North African campaigns. He was a brilliant medic and pharmacist who should have lived much longer. I’ve penned a historical family saga based on the memorabilia he left behind.

An easy way to distinguish a short story with military facts from a novel, which can be frustrating when dealing with so many facts and dates, is that the novel is an in-depth portrait of a figure or event. The short story, while dealing with military facts, is just that: A story with real-life people who the writer is putting into a faster-paced and shorter tale. Worthy? Of course. Do facts need to be checked? Of course. You are stitching together pieces for a shorter quilt but one that has historical merit.

The library is filled with historical novels by authors. However, it takes imagination and inclusion of the following key items to make short stories come alive in the reader’s mind. My dear and, to my regret, deceased writing teacher once told me that if I write a historical short story that I must be one hundred percent certain that my facts are accurate. In her words, “Just because it is shorter doesn’t mean it is less worthy of your time and effort.”

Make Me Feel for the Protagonist and the Villain

When I wrote The Last Hurrah of General Jackson about a down on his luck soldier who fought for his country in the Vietnam War, I interviewed veterans. I needed to get a picture of the emotions behind being a soldier in war before I could even think of writing about a soldier down on his luck. In addition, I wanted the reader to feel for a man who had served his country and was reduced to sleeping in shelters, improvising on bathing, and trying to find sustenance. I also wanted to contrast him against real crooks like the ones he encountered who stole Mrs. W’s jewelry to increase their drug dealer supplies.

I put myself in General Jackson’s place as a brave soldier defending his country and returning home with emotional baggage from the ravages of war. He was a victim of a system that often rewarded soldiers, in many instances, only while he was in combat and later didn’t do enough to help them when peace was declared.

At least he didn’t turn to drugs or sell them to survive. He held himself together with as much dignity as he could muster, I think of my darling mother, an English major and copywriter, who told me time and again as I wrote essay after essay from grade school through six college degrees, “Don’t take the first idea that comes into your head. Work with it, stretch it, and mold it into something you can be proud of reading to yourself and having read by others.”

I’ve given the General the dignity he deserved by using Mom’s words of wisdom. As to the emotions of the villains, Carlotta and Arturo, I’ve infused them with the personality traits that are appropriate for their shifty characters. In the ending, I let the readers see both sides of the story. I’ve left room for shades of gray. Word to the wise with villains: Please flesh them out before you write, especially if they are interacting with a partner in crime as with Carlotta and Arturo. Get into their mindset and SHOW the reader through their actions.

The Historical Facts

If I were crafting this short story on the battlefield, I would have included more combat scenes, but that wasn’t what I was aiming for. It would have taken the story in an entirely different direction and veered off course for my plot points, which were as follows:

1) A veteran who is trying to survive. His routine is disrupted by two drug dealers.

2) He turns things around but too late to redeem himself in his own eyes.

3) Did the wrong man die?  I leave that to the reader.

The objective is to draw in the reader and have them comment on what THEY think of the protagonist and villains.

Weaving Facts and Fiction

Act it out as an actress or actor does in rehearsing a role. I took on the parts of the general and the villains, bearing in mind that the references are historical and there is only so much liberty a writer can take with the facts. General Jackson is based on a real-life hero, as I mentioned in the beginning of this piece. I haven’t tampered with his service record. Only the aftermath of coming home and surviving a war that should never have taken place.

Another Brief Example

This was a short story in another publication about my great grandmother and the agony she endured with a medic son on a battlefield in the Italian campaign in WWII. I portrayed her as a woman who raised a son brought up in a Jewish Orthodox household to observe the Sabbath and only eat Kosher meals. Drafted and thrust into battle, she guided him along a path that would allow him to keep up his strength with U.S. Army rations while remaining true to his religious convictions.

In all my historical works, be they novels or historical short stories, I always strive to paint a true portrait of history and honoring those who have served their country while maintaining those shades of gray.

For more info, contact Joan at writerjr1044 at gmail dot com.