Airships in the Arctic with Tom Hindle
Airships in the Arctic with Tom Hindle
First time ever you will have been inside an airship probably. First time in a luxury one on which someone gets murdered!!
Oh here we go….Tom is taking us on a journey today. You coming onboard?
Locations in Death in the Arctic
Tom, over to you!
Right, everyone on board? Let’s do this!
Our mode of transport for today:
Locations in Death in the Arctic
Death in the Arctic is actually the realisation of an ambition I’ve held for a few years now, which is to write a murder mystery set aboard an airship.
Locations in Death in the Arctic
I’m endlessly fascinated by airships. Spending days at a time, travelling through the skies in the utmost luxury… It’s always struck me as an incredible setting for a crime novel. But choosing where to send mine was a real challenge. I knew that it needed to be somewhere incredibly remote. Somewhere our passengers couldn’t just disembark and wait for the police to arrive, once the murder inevitably takes place. But I also knew it needed to be somewhere people would pay serious money to visit. Purchasing a ticket for a luxury airship would be no small thing, so I knew that the destination had to be spectacular.
Longyearbyen (c) Tom Hindle
I considered the amazon rainforest, the Sahara Desert, even an aerial safari over the African plains. But once I started thinking about the Arctic, I knew I had my location. Yes, it met every logistical requirement that I needed to contend with. But if I’m honest it just felt right. The image of a single airship, wending its silent way over an immeasurable expanse of frozen wilderness… I found it utterly compelling.
Longyearbyen (c) Tom Hindle
And of course, there’s the historical connection. While I admittedly didn’t know this at the time of pitching the book to my editor, I quickly learned that the North Pole actually has a history of airship travel. Most notably, in 1926 the first successful expedition to the Pole was made by airship, a piece of historical trivia that plays a key role in the book. I was already set on my location by the time I learned this – if I’m honest, I was already writing – but it was yet another tick in the Arctic’s favour.
North Pole Expedition Museum (c) Tom Hindle
Locations in Death in the Arctic
Did you visit the Arctic yourself for research?
I did! Although, I should probably add two small caveats.
The first is that I didn’t make it all the way to the North Pole, as our characters are attempting to do in the book. I made it as close as I could, though. I spent a week in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, the world’s northernmost town. Deep in the Arctic Circle, it has a population of 2,000 people, is just 800 miles from the North Pole and spends three months a year in permanent darkness. Another fun bit of trivia is that residents of the town aren’t allowed to leave without a gun, due to the very real risk of encountering a polar bear. As you can imagine, that made for some interesting excursions.
Cafe Huskies (c) Tom Hindle
The second caveat is that when I pitched Death in the Arctic to my editor, I had no intention of going to the Arctic myself. At that point, I was planning for the entire book to take place aboard the airship, with the Arctic landscape providing a scenic backdrop for our characters to look down on. But as I began to actually write the story, it became increasingly apparent that I would need to set a good portion on the ground, before the airship lifts off. Having identified Svalbard as the place my expedition would set out from, I read blogs, looked at countless pictures and spent hours watching videos on YouTube. But it soon became clear that if I was going to write about this place, I had to experience it for myself.
Barentz cafe (c) Tom Hindle
Locations in Death in the Arctic
How did it help?
In so many ways. For one thing, my journey to Longyearbyen was the journey that many of my characters undergo themselves in order to board the airship, so that was an incredibly helpful thing to experience. But to be there in person, immersing yourself in that location… There’s simply no substitute.
The result, I think – or at least, I hope – is that the book feels a good deal more authentic. Each day, I would go on a hike, a boat trip or simply out to explore the town, and when I returned to my hotel would furiously write down everything I’d seen and learned. It helped me as well to feel closer to my main character, Chloé. When we first meet her, she’s writing about Longyearbyen for her travel blog. So much of what she writes came from my own experience of being in that extraordinary place. I actually found myself having to rein it a little when writing that chapter. I could happily have gone on for several more pages!
Barentz cafe (c) Tom Hindle
And finally there were a number of plot holes that I was struggling with before I set out, and to which I stumbled on solutions during my time in Longyearbyen. That, in particular, was not something that I expected to happen, but I was incredibly glad when it did.
Wow thanks Tom! *Heads off to sit down on the still, safe ground once the ship has landed*
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Death in the Arctic
Twitter : @TomHindle3
