About Roland

Eleven years ago, today, I wrote a series of posts dedicated to the creation of my fictional character, Roland Axam, and how he evolved into the central character of my novel, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary, and how I had assumed the role of Roland—in real life—to make him as believable as possible.

In 1984, I decided that I wanted to be a writer. One of my favourite authors, Len Deighton, inspired me to want to try my hand at spy stories, and so I wrote a couple of short stories that involved a nameless agent. Soon after, though, I wanted to write an actual spy novel, and my character needed a name.

I always liked the name Roland, had even thought that someday I would have a son with that name—long before I was dating anyone that I would even consider for a life partner. I struggled with finding my character a last name and eventually turned to the phone book.

I started blindly flipping through the pages, hopeful that I would be able to drop my finger on a name that I'd be able to pronounce, that would roll off my tongue, and that I would like. As the pages passed by, I actually aimed for the B section, wanting Roland to have the same initials as my own.

I came close, my finger landing at the end of the As: the name that my finger hit was Axam and it stuck. It was a surname that I could easily pronounce. Saying "Roland Axam" rolled off my tongue.

And I liked it.

Now that I had a name, the next task was to find Roland Axam's place of origin. In my stories, Roland already had Canadian citizenship but he was possibly going to come from another country.

To find Roland's home, I turned to maps. My parents had a large, beautifully detailed atlas. The hard-covered book was about 24 inches by 12 inches and was almost two inches thick. Many countries spanned two pages, with the number of cities and towns well-marked. If a country was large, like Canada, Russia, the United States, China, or Australia, the country would carry over several pages. It would be easy to pin-point exactly where Roland was born.

I closed my eyes, flipped the pages, and dropped my finger. Right into water.

I quickly learned just how much water occupies our planet. The same goes for inhospitable land. After more than a dozen or so attempts, I gave up. The chances of blindly finding a place where I would be happy to associate with Roland were slim. To speed things up, I finally decided that I would narrow my search considerably. I decided that Roland would come from the U.K.

My parents' atlas had the best illustration of Great Britain. Because of the large size of the pages, not only small towns were marked on the map, but also some remote villages. The detail was amazing.

By narrowing Roland's origin to Britain, I also thought it would be easier for him to fit in with the greater Canadian society (of the 80s). His English would be fluent. And for me, British spies were the best.

I spread the book wide on the table top, closed my eyes, gave the book a spin, and dropped my finger.

Straight into water.

But close to land. I was touching the mouth of the Firth of Forth, in Scotland, very close to a coastal town that was just east of Edinburgh.

North Berwick. Roland Axam was born in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland.

© Ross Brown

In 1988, I flew to Scotland to visit a friend who was studying at the University of Glasgow. But my secondary purpose of my trip was to see the town of North Berwick for myself, to see the place I had come so close to on my parents' world atlas. In 2010, I returned to North Berwick to find Roland's family home and to gain as much information as I could about the town itself.

The 1988 trip also took me to East and West Berlin to research Roland's trilogy, to flesh out a spy story.

I crossed Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin, wandered the narrow streets and alleyways that were closest to the Wall. I shot many photos and mapped out parts of the Communist neighbourhoods. I created a great story that would make for Roland's first big adventure in the world of espionage.

Sadly, the Berlin Wall fell before I could complete the story, making the theme not at all current. I shelved the trilogy. Over the decades, I've lost my typed manuscripts.

If you've read any of my Friday Fiction posts, you've seen how, in the sequel to Songsaengnim, I've brought some of my spy trilogy into Gyeosunim. When this sequel finally comes out, it will hopefully make sense.

Roland's life as a spy was short. He worked for CSIS from 1986 to 1994. But when Gyeosunim is over and done with, I doubt we'll have seen the end of Roland.

A new excerpt from Gyeosunim is coming, this Friday.