Before anything else, I have to say it: Bouldering and rock climbing are really hard! I have nothing but the utmost respect for athletes who have honed this skill set. And no, I am not one of those people. Not by a longshot!
That said, I did have a few characters who were skilled at climbing, and who often needed to rely on their skills in my stories. Not only did they scale cliffs, but because the setting of The Wormwood Trilogy was in a ruined world, many high paths were unstable and treacherous to navigate. As an author, I believed that in order to 'get it right' in my stories, it was crucial that I fully understood what was involved, as well as the feelings a character would have while attempting to navigate those routes. Research was essential, but experiencing it was even better. Well, either that, or I'm just crazy.
That said, I did have a few characters who were skilled at climbing, and who often needed to rely on their skills in my stories. Not only did they scale cliffs, but because the setting of The Wormwood Trilogy was in a ruined world, many high paths were unstable and treacherous to navigate. As an author, I believed that in order to 'get it right' in my stories, it was crucial that I fully understood what was involved, as well as the feelings a character would have while attempting to navigate those routes. Research was essential, but experiencing it was even better. Well, either that, or I'm just crazy.
So, using my typical, flawed reasoning, I had to be sure I'd experimented with these things before writing about them. First up: climbing. I've only ever done bouldering and climbing in a controlled environment, such as using an indoor climbing gym and outdoor climbing walls. That was as far as my experiments got (well, in bouldering and climbing, anyway). The first, most glaring thing I discovered was that it's exhausting! I don't have the necessary upper body strength, so I got tired out at a rather embarrassing rate. In this photo, you can see that I'm about to attempt an overhang (you can tell by the pot light). Let's just say that I didn't make it any farther. Yup, that's what I get for my cocky smile! In fact, I picked up an added experiment: what it feels like to get the air knocked out of you after a fall. I was actually able to write about that sensation in my books a few times! So you know, it's all good.
Aside from that, my other experiences with climbing taught me how important it is to plan your route before you commit, how to control your center of gravity, keep your body close to the wall and how to shift your weight so you can get to that next handhold. Although I wasn't very good at it, I could use all of this in my writing. Here's an example from Angel of Shadow:
And although experimenting helped me write about climbing in general terms, that was as far as I could go with it. People who climb are like crazy superheroes or something.
As for navigating unstable paths, surprisingly, I have more experience with this than I probably should. My husband and I are both to blame, with our love of hiking and our odd fascination with exploring natural disaster aftermaths.
A few examples are: hiking through the mountains in Taiwan after a major earthquake took out roads, train tracks and trails (image right); losing our way on the Quilotoa Loop in Ecuador after heavy rains and landslides erased parts of the route (below left); and our determination to cross Ilha Grande in Brazil after rains and landslides crippled the island (below right. That's my hubby. There's actually a road buried under there somewhere).
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Not only am I awed by seeing the power of nature, my strange 'hobby' means that now I'm able to write about these ruined landscapes from memory—with some embellishments, of course. It truly helps that I've seen (and traversed!) landscapes with trees that are not only toppled, but buried in earth; fields of thick, grey ash from a volcano eruption; and high mountain paths that have crumbled to almost nothing.
And how does one navigate crumbling trails? Well, very carefully! For one, you don't want to damage the area more. But mostly, you want to stay intact, yourself. A common misconception is to try to go quickly. This can be a mistake in most situations (although dynamic movement is better in those rare instances where you're guaranteed to slide on each step). Usually, a key component is careful—and slow—foot placement. Place your foot slowly to be sure it will 'stick' before transferring any weight. Then, incrementally shift your weight while watching that the ground will hold and your foot won't begin slipping. Repeat as necessary.
However, sometimes you can't seem to climb at all. I remember this one hike in Ecuador when the trail in front of us had washed out some time before we had arrived. In this case, we needed to climb up a fairly small, but vertical wall of soft earth in order to get back to where the trail continued. It didn't look hard... until we tried it. It seemed like a great idea to kick in some footholds, but that didn't pan out.
At least I could write about what I learned there. Here's Kali in Angel of Shadow, attempting to get out of an earthy crevice:
We learned another lesson as we tried to get up that wall of earth in Ecuador. Although there was nothing solid to hold on to, there were some roots, at least. If you want to know how that idea went, here's Kali in Wormwood:
Of course, you can tell from the picture above that personally, that my 'falling' experience only landed me on my butt! I did learn, however, that smallish roots are not secure things to hold on to—especially if the soil is soft.
Speaking of falling (truly falling) does bring me to a different thing I explored on other occasions… the sensation of free fall!
Speaking of falling (truly falling) does bring me to a different thing I explored on other occasions… the sensation of free fall!
Those experiments, however, will have to be covered in my next newsletter.
I hope you enjoyed today's issue of Experiments in Kickassary!
I would LOVE to hear your thoughts.
I hope you enjoyed today's issue of Experiments in Kickassary!
I would LOVE to hear your thoughts.
Just for fun before I go, here are a few more pictures. Riding a horse through a ravine of volcanic ash, a church buried in lava, a temple surrounded by deep fields and fissures of ash, descending a volcano (see the teeny buildings waaay below?), landslides in Brazil, and too much scree in my boots!
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