O Canada

For me, locations aren’t so much a backdrop in my novels, but more a main character in themselves. Whether it’s a city, neighbourhood, park or party, often, I’ll think up settings I want to use first, and then craft scenes around them. Sometimes I find myself going off in new (geographic) directions just because I can picture the scene so vividly in my mind, outline be damned. But with BOYS, BEARS & A SERIOUS PAIR OF HIKING BOOTS, I went one step further, because the entire novel was dreamed up around location: the glorious Canadian wilderness is the heart of the book.

See, like my heroine, Jenna, I’ve always liked nature – in theory. Parks? Lovely to laze in with a good book. A light stroll on the forest? Fun, as long as we stop for an icy drink. I grew up in the English countryside, and have enjoyed many a road-trip through the woods of Western Massachusetts, but when it comes to actual outdoors adventuring? I’m so not that girl. I mean, I wear contact lenses; I like running water; my idea of physical exertion is walking down the block to get ice-cream.

But when I was living in Montreal in 2008, I took a trip out west to visit family (yes, I am 1/2 Canadian!). I arrived at the airport with a bag of my prettiest summer dresses to find my Uncle Don greeting me with the strange and terrifying words:

“We’re going camping!”

So, camping we went. I chopped wood, wrestled with a tent – and rudimentary showers – and hiked up and, well, skidded down mountains. (In fact, there’s a certain scene in Ch. 23 involving a rather inconvenient thunderstorm that is entirely based on that trip. Except, sadly, my version was minus the cute boy and kissing. And, luckily, minus the SPOILER!) By the end of it all, I knew exactly how Jenna would feel being plunged into such strange and foreign adventures, because I had been through them myself!

And as you can see  from the photos, I fell in love with the vast, terrifying, beautiful, awe-inspiring wilderness of the Rockies – where the snow stays on the mountain tops even in the height of sweltering summer; where catching sight of a moose is a regular occurrence, where the trees roll back to the top of every ridge, and crisp, cold lakes are just waiting for you to cannonball into.

I can’t say I’ve been brave enough to try all Jenna’s adventures, (kayaking will wait another day), but most of the book is based on my own experiences, in Canada and elsewhere: from rock-climbing, to bike riding, to skimming rocks amongst the waterlillies with a cute, plaid-wearing boy.

Oh, the things I do for research…

I hope you enjoy reading BOYS & BEARS half as much as I enjoyed writing it!