So, the first
time I went rappelling was at Devil’s Lake, from atop Devil’s Rock. Guarded by
all manner of…rattlesnakes. Saw two, sunning on the rocks. So there I was on a
snake-infested rock atop the world. Beautiful view. Wasted on a
sixteen-year-old in a cold sweat. See, the secret to rappelling is to WALK down
the rock face. Anyone who’s walked across a floor knows the easiest way to do
that is to be perpendicular to the floor surface. So if the floor surface is
almost entirely vertical, that means the walker gets to be the one
who’s…horizontal. And that translates into standing backward at the edge of a
cliff, the true ground several hundred feet below, and LEANING back against a
rope-and-nylon-harness-affair into thin air until you’re lying down on
NOTHING—and then walk down the wall.
Sure. Uh huh.
(Never said I was a BRIGHT kid. Well, okay, I was. Straight A nerd.) And Mr.
Snyder was right there like some hairy bearded cheerleader from Buffy saying
stupid things like, “It’s easy. You can do this. Nothing stops you. Just
leeeeeean back and walk down.”
But it was my
best friend Annette stating “Don’t be such a chicken shit” that got me going.
Okay, it took me 20 minutes of whimpering like a toy poodle in a thunderstorm
before I leaned back enough to start walking. Reaching the bottom to more Buffy
reject cheering felt like conquering Mount Everest.
That’s how I
tackle life. I let fear motivate me into moving, defeating, conquering. It can
either stop you or get you going. Being a Taurus, stubbornness gets me a long
way through life. As a writer I try to let the quality bleed off into my
characters. Set them up against a bad situation some would consider impossible,
but the character just takes a deep breath, says “Who if not me?” and forges on
to start, to try. And so the stories go.
So we go through
life observing, learning, challenging, attempting. Sometimes failing, other
times triumphing. Always growing and changing. We shape the world around us and
the world shapes us. So it is with our characters. They are a product of their
world and ever-changing belief system. Old habits die hard. New skills
challenging to learn. They are moved by fear—the fear of what will happen if
they do NOTHING. And intelligent, resourceful beings that they are, they
observe the world around them and learn from it. USE it.
The SIX SENSES
class I’m teaching will explore just how characters use their own unique
perspectives to do just that.
BIO:
Fantasy Romance
Author Renee Wildes writes the “Guardians of Light” series for Samhain
Publishing. She lives in central WI with hubby, 2 teens, a geriatric calico
cat, a fluffy black Chowminator, and 2 gray half-Arab mares. She still
considers herself a tomboy, although she hasn’t hoofed it down Devil’s Rock in
years. Nowadays, writing, reading and scrapbooking occupy her time—when she’s
not prying her kids out of a tree or off the roof… Her latest book, Riever’s
Heart, came out in paperback on Sept. 8, 2012. God of Fyre Mountain will be out
in ebook on Jan. 22, 2013.
Website: http://www.reneewildes.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReneeWildes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReneeWildes1
I hope you will
join my class
The Sixth Senses: Ramp Up Description & Anchor
Your Reader In The story
Hosted
by
Fantasy-Futuristic
& Paranormal
Romance
Writers
This 2 WEEK class
starts November 5th
For more
information click HERE
Posts
