Of course authors use plenty of vivid imagination, but it does help to mix in actual experiences – especially if it involves a scene that sounds rather implausible. In my case, that often means fessing up to various 'difficult' situations I've managed to get into!
New release Sharksinger recalls a time where I almost drowned, so I let my heroine Hannik share that 'interesting' experience! I was solo hiking off a mountain in the Himalayas with a really heavy pack when I came to river with a single sloping log as a bridge. There was snow and ice everywhere, including the log – and you guessed it – I slipped and fell in. I waited to surface but it didn't happen and I finally figured out WHY just as I was about to breathe in water. The pack was holding my head under!
Okay. Climb out. Sit in snowdrift. Work out how to survive freezing temperatures while soaking wet. Finally figure out that the weird sound is my hair freezing in lumps and rattling next to my ears. Deduce that I'm already hypothermic. Get up and start walking, or die.
And then I notice that the river is flowing the wrong way...
Easy to figure out why if you're not hypothermic...
Hannik's experience is a little bit different. She is not in the freezing snow-zone. But she did just get shot.
If you'd like a free review copy of Sharksinger, drop me a line via my website!!