Debut December Guest Post: Diana Renn (TOKYO HEIST) & Giveaway

This giveaway is over.

Several years ago, I traveled to Japan and fell in love. It was a little awkward and complicated, though. You see, I was there on my honeymoon. I was supposed to be gazing into my husband’s eyes.

But there were so many dazzling attractions competing for his attention! Temples. Colorful signs. Delicious food, artistically served. Lavish subterranean marketplaces. Summer festivals. An island with tame deer roaming the streets. Outdoor art galleries. Mount Fuji rising through the clouds.

Halfway into my honeymoon, I had to fess up. I’d fallen hopelessly in love. With a country.






I had been deeply interested in Japan before this trip. I’d had many Japanese students over the years in my career as an ESL teacher. I had many Japanese friends. And I grew up in Seattle, which has a strong Japanese culture; in my grade school, I remember celebrating the cherry blossom season and learning to sing “Sakura” – I still know all the words. My dad’s office is in the International District, on the edge of what was once known as Japantown, and I grew up frequenting Japanese restaurants. During college I had a seasonal job at a comic book shop, which sold anime and manga, and I developed an increasing interest in these art forms.

My husband shared an interest in Japan, and was equally eager to go there. So while other couples we knew planned honeymoons at resorts in beach-y places, we went to a Japanese travel agent. We bought airplane tickets to Tokyo and Japan Rail passes.

Being in Japan felt like an ongoing, wonderful dream. For the first time on a trip, I didn’t write extensive journal entries or take meticulous notes. (I was, after all, on my honeymoon, and had promised not to let work take over our travels, as it often does). But I was Awake. I kept my eyes and ears open. And the moment I returned home, I wrote everything down, filling up notebooks with memories and impressions.

I knew it would be awhile before I could return to Japan, and I knew I wanted to return sooner. My next ticket would be fiction. A novel was beginning to take shape in my mind, though like Mount Fuji behind the clouds, I couldn’t quite see its full outline, only intriguing glimpses.

Some people embark on the writing of a book with a strong sense of character. For others it’s an image, a snatch of dialogue, an exciting event. For me, it was setting that sparked my novel. A vast and complex place. It took me a long time and many false starts to pinpoint where in Japan I wanted my story to unfold. It was tempting to write something in which my main character would more or less follow our travel itinerary, which took us through many regions and landscapes, and which, frankly, took ages to plan. But there was no story arc there. Descriptions of scenery and anecdotes about cultural encounters do not add up to a novel.

I soon realized that traveling in another country with a guidebook is relatively easy. Writing a novel, with no guidebook, is hard, no matter if it’s set in Tokyo or your own back yard. Writers begin as hapless tourists in their stories, stumbling through foggy landscapes. It takes many drafts and revisions for things to come into focus. Then they start to realize: Oh, I know these streets. Oh, I thought I was turning right here, but really I need to go left.

So I had to leave Japan again, mentally, and focus on the story itself, not just on my intriguing setting. I had to get to know my characters and ask them for directions. Only then could I return to setting. My characters ended up bypassing some of the sights that amazed me as a tourist. (“You fools!” I’d rage at them. “How can you skip the Japanese Alps? Wait, go back – what about that cool fish market?”) They paid me no mind. They had their own agendas.

Writers and readers: what about you? How significant is a sense of place in what you write or read? And where have you most enjoyed traveling through the pages of a book?

(And many thanks, Nicole, for having me on WORD for Teens “Debut December” today!)


And many thanks for stopping by! Diana is also superfabulous enough that we have one advanced copy of her debut novel, Tokyo Heist, up for grabs!

Sixteen-year-old Violet loves reading manga and wearing scarves made from kimono fabric, so she’s thrilled that her father’s new painting commission means a summer trip to Japan. But what starts as an exotic vacation quickly turns into a dangerous treasure hunt. Her father’s client, the wealthy Yamada family, is the victim of a high-profile art robbery. Someone has stolen van Gogh sketches from the Yamadas’ Seattle mansion, and is holding them hostage until the Yamadas can produce the corresponding van Gogh painting. The problem is that nobody knows where this painting is hidden, and until they find it, all of their lives are in danger. Violet’s search for the missing van Gogh takes her from the Seattle Art Museum, to the yakuza-infested streets of Tokyo, to a secluded inn in Kyoto. As the mystery deepens, Violet’s not sure whom she can trust. But she knows one thing: she has to find the painting and the criminals—before it’s too late.

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Quick Recap:
[1] copy of Tokyo Heist by Diana Renn up for grabs
[1] winner in the U.S. or Canada
ends on December 31 at midnight