THE ACT OF STORY STATEMENT
Asa must overcome his resentment for his homeland to save a wounded American spy while protecting his family of choice and the best damn drag bar in Africa from the Nazi hunting her.
THE ANTAGONIST PLOTS THE POINT
Rolf von Werra’s favorite drink was propaganda, and it led to him coming of age in the German trenches of the Western Front. The war peeled away his friends, youth and his health, leaving the hardened zeal of a patriot wronged by his leaders. After the war he joined the Sturmabteilung, and the Nights of Long Knifes and Broken Glass became bloody releases of the resentment smoldering just below his surface.
After the Reishstag fire, von Werra found an outlet for his nationalistic fervor in the Gestapo. There, he could filter through the sinners and the saints, plucking out Germany’s enemies from within. The work was a salve for his soul, and Once he a certain spy caught his attention he would track her to ends of the earth if he had to. Not because she was important, because she wasn’t, but because catching her was the only way to ease the burning in his soul.
CONJURING YOUR BREAKOUT TITLE
I’ve been writing under the title, LET US POSSESS ONE WORLD, because on a literal level it references the world my two gay men have created for themselves in 1940 Tangier. It’s from a John Donne poem, and Hemmingway used Donne’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” as the title for his book about the Spanish Civil war, and that was one of the things I wanted to reference with this book.
Since this assignment however, I’ve started to consider HOW WE BEAR THE LIGHT because it’s a quote from James Baldwin where he’s talking about how we find the light in darkness and that light is love. He’s saying it’s how we live with that love that defines our lives. Also, Baldwin is a black, gay writer, and since I’m a gay man writing about an interracial couple he feels like a more appropriate reference.
Finally, I’ve been toying with the idea of something very declarative like THE MAGICIAN, THE NAZI AND THE DRAG QUEEN because it literally tells people what the book is about.
DECIDING YOUR GENRE AND APPROACHING COMPARABLES
The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin: Like my book, she focuses on the power of art, of being seen in the face of Nazi fascism. (2023)
The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek Miller: It’s a world war II heist story that focus on art, and Drag and music are art forms same as paintings and sculpture. (2024)
CORE WOUND AND THE PRIMARY CONFLICT
A drag queen in Tangier still reeling from the carnage of the Spanish civil war must hide a wounded American spy from a Nazi while protecting his found family of queers, refugees and alcoholics.
OTHER MATTERS OF CONFLICT: TWO MORE LEVELS
Lady Josephine is unapologetically bold, but when he wipes away the makeup Asa is a scarred veteran who takes power from his partner, Leo when he discovers a wounded woman in the back of club his instinct is to save her, once he finds out she’s being hunted by the Nazis it sparks his patriotism.
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“Asa?” Javi said, feigning surprise. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, comrade.”
Javi was an attractive man, with acorn-colored skin, dark hair, and a scar on his chin Leo couldn’t stop from admiring him a little bit.
“Yeah, comrade, sure,” Asa said, watching the bar tender shake their cocktails. “That happens when you get banned from my club.”
“I didn’t think it was a total ban,” he said with a devilish smile. “I thought it was more of a suggestion.”
“I don’t remember stuttering,” Asa said.
Leo retrieved their drinks and nestled into Asa, sliding his shoulder underneath Asa’s armpit and nuzzling into his chest.
“Cute,” Javi said. “Anyway, we could use a man with your experience. We could use both of you in all honesty.”
Leo didn’t say anything as Asa wrapped his arm around him.
“War is a racket,” Asa said. “We fought for Spain’s freedom once, and it didn’t work out so well, for us, or the Spanish. I can’t imagine the free French fairing any better.”
“Tell me you don’t care that the fascists aren’t wrapping their fingers around the neck of Europe,” Javi said. “They’re bombing London now, killing civilians by the hundreds. Once England falls, and they will, you’re going to find the ground shrinking under your feet.
It was Asa’s turn to take his time with his drink.
“Do you remember those conversations we’d have at night? When it was just the two of us awake in the trenches,” Asa said. “I remember you asked me what I wanted to be after the war, and my answer was always the same, ‘Happy.’”
He squeezed Leo tight.
“I am happy, and I am free,” Asa said. “I haven’t abandoned the cause. I’ve just abandoned lost causes.”
“I liked you better when you were optimistic,” Javi said before turning his attention to Leo. “What about you? We could use a few good medics.”
Leo smirked and nuzzled Asa’s chest before saying, “You like war. I like men.”
Javi snorted a short deriding huff.
“I don’t like war any more than you two do. I fucking hate it, but we don’t get to choose if it comes to us or not,” Javi said. “The Strait of Gibraltar will not protect you once England falls. There’s going to come a day that you wished you joined the fight while it still mattered.”
Before Leo could speak Asa struck again.
“Believe me when I say this, I’m happier than I’ve ever been,” he said. “I’ll take my chances with the tides of war. Wait long enough and they’ll turn against Germany.”
THE INCREDIBLE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING
Club Ballyhoo: For centuries Tangier was the red-light district of the Med, a port that collected expats, sailors and gay men looking to enjoy their sins in an affordable, beautiful city full of cheap drugs and cheap men. Ballyhoo sits on a steep street lined with stucco walled buildings with a café on street level and a night club above.
The club, and the restaurant is a port in the storm as the Nazi’s clobber London and tighten their grip on Europe. The staff is an ad hoc family of queers, alcoholics and bastards clinging to each other as the world changes around them. French food in the brasserie and drag shows upstairs, it’s less of a business some days and more of a dysfunctional family.
Marseille: The city is bursting like over-proofed bread as refugees desperate to escape the Nazis flood into the city. The most desired route is a ship bound to Portugal, England or America while others brave the Pyrenees and the Spanish authorities to reach Lisbon. Madeline has made the Hotel de California her base of operation, a small French hotel with a quick nod to Americana.
The city is a plump ghost of its former self; still trying to go through the motions of pre-occupation life while moving through the days without plan or purpose
Gibraltar: “The Rock” is both teaming with life and a ghost town at the same time. The small civilian population was evacuated as military personal moved in to protect England’s most valuable port in the Med. The war is still young and the Brits are just now boring the tunnels where it will house its military population for the duration of the war. Paranoia of the Italians and the Germans run high as the Vichy French look to the fortress as a ripe target to avenge the lost of their fleet at Dakar.
