Any time a main character must make a literal or figurative journey to achieve a specific goal, you’ll find that journey peppered with obstacles literal and/or figurative, external and/or internal.
It makes for good drama.
There’s a parallel with life in Fortress Mamea. We’re a reasonable distance from civilisation so, after a good few years’ living here, we know almost to the minute the travel time between us and most of Auckland at any given time of the day.
Some observations:
Don’t Even Be a Minute Late
If we miss our official departure time by just a minute, what invariably happens after we leave the drawbridge behind us is that we almost immediately find ourselves behind a Slow Driver. Not a Townie Driver who doesn’t belong in our neck of the woods and is understandably unfamiliar with the roads. A Slow Driver: who taps/floors their brake for corners, distant hazards and imaginary noises, all the while travelling at ten kilometres below the official speed limit.
The fun doesn’t stop there. There is no point in getting angry or frustrated behind a Slow Driver because —
There Will Always Be an Even Slower Driver
Think the Hyundai Getz driven by someone with the eyesight of a mole is already excruciatingly slow? Give it time and even they will catch up to a Mazda MX5 driven by its One Very Careful Owner.
Which reminds me – what is it with —
Sports Cars Driven by Slow Drivers
What were they thinking when they bought their vehicle? Or if it was a gift, what in the gods’ names was the giver thinking? Why isn’t there some kind of reflex and/or psychological profile test salespeople can give prospective owners to determine ability and mental fitness?
Next time you’re writing a chase scene and your hero has already negotiated a reversing truck, a very bad run of traffic lights, numerous henchmen and their attendant vehicles, and randomly tossed-in-panicked-hysteria infants – and you stop to wonder if a gaggle of nuns might be a bit much… think about the world that we share.
And write what you know to be true.
