How I Find Adventure
Ever since I was a kid reading adventure stories I’ve loved the moment when, after the set-up and inciting incident and whatever preparations need to be made, the main character takes the first step on the journey they’re about to make. When I started out as a writer, I wrote for children because I was fascinated by that jumping-off point in a story. I think I find adventure by looking for that moment again and again in real life.
I used to see myself as someone who enjoyed the journey more than the destination, but both get equal billing these days. I’m lucky enough to have grown up in Western Australia, and I do love a road trip, especially when I’m visiting home. There’s no better way to step into the unknown than by traversing a remote highway, not knowing who or what you’ll encounter on the road or where you might stop for the night. It’s a no-brainer that my first published novel is a girl-powered road trip through the outback.
Friends who’ve known me for decades tell me I’m always searching for something, whether it’s new experience, meaning, connection or facing down fear in one way or another. Along these lines, here are three recommendations for finding adventure:
Do something that means something to you. Earlier this year I spent a week planting trees in the Scottish Highlands with the charity Trees for Life. I’d arrived back from Western Australia to freezing London the week before and was lucky enough to get a last-minute volunteer spot on a rewilding week in Glen Affric. Nature, wildlife, cold water swimming and twelve strangers in an isolated bothy. That might sound like the set-up for a crime novel but I promise it wasn’t. I learned heaps, met a bunch of incredible people, and had a week with no screen time I won’t forget in a hurry.
Do something that scares you (or write about it). Making my peace with fear is the work of a lifetime and my most recent scary adventure has been seeing No Country for Girls go out into the world. It’s hard to pin down exactly what’s been so frightening about it, but I suspect it’s a version of, ‘What if they don’t like it?’ In contrast, writing the first draft was a joy and a blast, as I gave these characters the reins and hung on for the ride.
Do something you’ve never done before but always wanted to. My biggest ‘always wanted to do it’ adventure was learning to fly and getting my private pilot’s licence in my twenties. I’d taken a temporary job in a village with an airfield and I signed up for a trial lesson imagining I’d enjoy my hour in the sky above south east London and that would be that. Nine months later I’d spent all my earnings learning to fly. It was a life-changing experience.
I’m not the adrenaline junkie now that I was in my twenties. An adventure on foot along a beach, coast path or canal can be as memorable as one over thousands of miles, especially if it shows me something I haven’t seen before. Even stepping off the path in my local park and leaving the phone at home for the afternoon can give me a new perspective.
For me, finding adventure is about looking for newness in one way or another, big or small, in myself or the world around me. I recommend it.