Tom Young joins the Protectors podcast to discuss his ninth novel and third World War II standalone work, "The Mapmaker," which explores the dangerous operations of the French Resistance.
• The novel follows Charlotte Deneau, a French-American woman who uses her artistic skills to create maps of German positions for the Resistance
• Charlotte becomes hunted by the Gestapo for her exceptional mapping abilities
• The second protagonist is Philippe Girard, a French pilot flying dangerous moonlight missions for the RAF's special operations squadron
• Philippe must locate and extract Charlotte from occupied France while determining if intelligence is reliable or a Nazi trap
• Tom draws inspiration from real-life resistance figures like Virginia Hall and Violette Sabo
• Tom describes his writing process as "by the seat of his pants" rather than outlining extensively
• Writing daily with a goal of 500-1000 words helps maintain progress on long-term writing projects
• Tom's writing career began unexpectedly during an aircraft emergency layover in South Korea
• Research for historical fiction includes nonfiction books and WWII training films on YouTube
• Tom's next potential novel may explore the little-known story of Jewish teenagers who escaped Germany to Virginia before joining the US military
• Advice for aspiring writers: attend conferences, network with the writing community, and remember it's normal for first drafts to need improvement
Make sure to check out Jason on IG @drjasonpiccolo