Hiding from adventure

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Today's guest blogger claims to hide from adventure - but we know better...

DANA CAMERON: I had not planned on climbing up the side of a granite outcropping over the very cold and very deep water of the Kennebec River.  Four of us had motored to a little island in mouth of the river to identify archaeological sites when the engine developed problems.  A storm suddenly was blowing up, and we didn't want to be stranded when it hit.  Our friend rowed us, one at a time in the very small boat, over to the nearest spit of the mainland, but the dock was up.  We had to climb twenty feet to the top of the cliff, trying to avoid slipping on the rubbery seaweed. 

My husband and I reached the top, breathing hard and hands scratched, as our friend rowed back.  We were twenty minutes from home by boat—but two hours by car.  We sat waiting to be picked up, and my husband looked at me. 

“This is so going into a book, isn't it?”
I shrugged—well, yeah.  We only meant to be out on the river for an hour on a nice day.  This was too good not to use.  I don't go looking for adventure.

With regards to adventure, I'm strictly with Bilbo Baggins-at-home.  A load of strange dwarves talking dragons and gold shows up on your doorstep, on the recommendation of an unreliable, scrape-acquaintance wizard?  I would have exactly the same response:  Hell no, thank you very much.  And please put down my good china.

I prefer my danger in books.  On graph paper with polyhedral dice.  Or in the cinema, with James Bond or Jason Bourne or Lara Croft.  I go a long way to avoid adventures in real life.  I plan, schedule, make back-up plans. 

And yet... 

“Here, drink this,” said the cultured gentleman I'd known for exactly four hours.  He handed me a plastic container of water from a holy spring from under a church in the Golden Horn in Istanbul.  The site had been considered a holy place by many religions for millennia.  “It's tested every year, clean and safe.”

Scenes from every fairy tale I'd ever read flashed through my brain.  When is it ever a good idea to drink from unknown mystical sources?  We'd arranged the tours envisioning a good walk and sightseeing.  All terribly genteel, with tea and cookies.

Our guide was a friend of a friend, highly recommended and very knowledgeable.  Quite apart from my caution in drinking water abroad, it would have been extremely rude to refuse him, and in front of one of the church's priests. 

I drank.  We spent the rest of the day exploring churches, museums, and the famous underground Basilica Cistern—all as planned.  It isn't really an risky venture, if you have the assurance of experts.  It was a guided tour, after all.  But I had a little Buffy Summers swagger in my walk the rest of the day, that bottle of holy water in my pocket.  In my mind, I was having an adventure. 

Writers have a habit of spinning something harmless and a little unexpected into...swashbuckling.  Most of my writing friends haven't experienced all the things they write about: murders, vampires, post-apocalyptic scenarios.  They are nice, quiet folks.  The difference is, they have the urge to take even the idea of a close-call, add a little imagination, maybe some paranoia, and transform it into an escapade.  We're not looking for adventure, but just idea of it inspires our work.

The thing is, adventure's going to find you, as soon as you step out the front door.  Something commonplace but unexpected happens and boom!  We go running for the keyboard. 

Or maybe most of us really would run off after the dwarves like Bilbo, given half the chance.  Would you?

Whether writing noir, historical fiction, urban fantasy, thriller, or traditional mystery, Dana Cameron draws from her expertise in archaeology.  Her fiction (including several Fangborn stories) has won multiple Agatha, Anthony  and Macavity Awards and earned an Edgar Award nomination.    Dana blogs with the Femmes Fatales www.femmesfatales.typepad.com , and you can learn more at www.danacameron.com, Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads. 

About SEVEN KINDS OF HELL:The first of three novels set in the Fangborn 'verse, SEVEN KINDS OF HELL, is published by 47North. Zoe Miller's an archaeologist on the run from her father's family. They're reputed to be no good, and her own tendency to violence—and the occasional glimpse of fangs in the mirror—has her worried about her sanity.  But when her cousin is kidnapped, Zoe has to come to grips with her powers:  She's a werewolf and Fangborn, part of a family of supernatural creatures dedicated to protecting humanity.  Zoe must use all of her archaeological talents and supernatural abilities against her enemies—human and Fangborn—who seek an artifact of world-ending power.

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Kinds-Hell-Fangborn-ebook/dp/B00943A8RE

ROSEMARY: Thanks for visiting, Dana! and don't forget JRs, one lucky commenter will win a signed copy of Dana's latest Fangborn novel Seven Kinds of Hell!