Take a Walk on the Wild Side

ROSEMARY: I spent last week hiking in Glacier National Park in Montana - one of my Top Seven Wonders of the World. Originally my husband and I were supposed to camp for three days.

There's a lovely campsite on Lake MacDonald which no one else seems to know about and I spent hours checking our gear and setting up our tent on the roof (it's flat) to make sure we still knew how and the mice hadn't created any new air vents. We tested backpacks, bladder bags, sleeping bags and inflatable pads.

And then three people were mauled by a grizzly in Montana. One of them fatally. I Googled bear attacks in the US in this century. A shockingly high number of them occurred in Montana. More than a few in Glacier.

I don't consider myself a chicken but listening to one of the survivors desribe how she woke up to find a bear munching on her arm gave me pause. (Paws?)

I hemmed and hawed.

I checked weather reports hoping for an unlikely monsoon which would allow me to legitimately cancel the camping segment of the trip in favor of ma nice warm bed in one of the lodges. At the 11th hour, I pulled the plug and found a cabin to rent. We would not have to hang our food, soap and toothpaste in the trees. I could stop extracting promises from my husband that he would remove all traces of cookie crumbs and airplane peanuts from his backpack. (The man never leaves home without snacks.) If he turned to embrace me or spoon in the middle of the night, he would not get a faceful of pepper spray. I hated to admit it, but i was relieved. We did see half a dozen bears, but not froma vulnerable, horizontal position.

Yet we put our protagonists in all sorts of danger - over and over again in the same book or series. Whenever I'm asked how much of myself is in Paula, I generally mumble something like "she's the younger, thinner, more adventurous me..) but would I really do anything remotely Paula-like?

So how realistic do you feel you have to be regarding the danger to your protagonists? Especially those who are amateurs? Does the reader even expect realism or do they like their heroines to have a touch of the superhero about them?

JAN: Wow. I'm impressed that you still consider camping, even without the bears.

Of course our readers don't want realism. They don't want us. They want superheroes. They have their own fears to deal with, they don't need ours. Think of Lisbeth Salander the most popular sleuth in the country right now (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and series.) People love her because she has enough rage to annihilate the bad guys - not to mention the abusive background that makes her both a superhero and an underdog.

So back out of your tent with an easy conscience, Ro. Me, I'm worried about shark sightings off South Beach.

HALLIE: I confess, it's not the bears that keep me from camping - it's the dishes, cold showers, and inevitable tent leaks. I'm on VACATION!

We do make our characters much braver than we are, and less princess-y, too. Ro, Glacier is on my list of must-sees, too.

HANK: Glacier is fantastic. Fantasatic. There's no - color. It's all black, white and gray. When we were there at least.

Bravery. Well, huh. In my reporter life I've been around many burning buildings, near shootouts, gone undercover, ridden with cops on assignment, been in tear gas, yeah, I've been in scary places. ButI'm not afraid, because it's for a story. Does that make ANY sense? SO the more dangerous the better.

In my other real life? Show me a spider and I run. I won't ride a bicycle in traffic - too dangerous. When Jonathan leaves, I say: be careful! And he says: of what? So it all depends.

And people don't want their characters to do stupid things. Spunky, yes. Tough, yes. Ridiculously fearless? Maybe not so.

ROSEMARY: Spunky!! Wasn't there a funny bit on the old Mary Tyler Moore Show when Mr. Grant syas "You've got spunk. I hate spunk."

ROBERTA: I am definitely not a physical risk-taker. We were talking about this the other day when a couple of friends expressed an interest in sky-diving. WHY? I don't want to climb Mount Everest or fight off bears or drive race cars. It's a missing gene in my DNA. I used to love to camp. Hmmm, maybe we should set up a Jungle Red camping weekend? Ther's a real cute campground in Provincetown and September's just the time to go. Anyone?

ROSEMARY: I'm up for it..I'll be in Wellfleet anyway, and we know my gear is in good shape. BTW...I will be missing Bouchercon this year because I'll be in Nepal hiking to Everest Base Camp. Not to the top, mind you. That would be ridiculously fearless and I am not that. I do have spunk, though.

Check back tomorrow for my realclosse encounter with danger in Glacier. Not a joke, this one concerns an escaped convict.