Heroes Insider Weekly

Storm's Extreme Weather Survival

Jennifer Stevens AKA Storm & Keely AKA Mz. Hulk

Writing Survival for Extreme Weather

         It’s a beautiful day; you’re out hunting, on the heels of a young rabbit. You see the tracks, you smell its blood, and you can almost taste it.  You know you are getting close.  As you stealthily move through the woods, concentrating on making no sound with your feet, your mouth begins to water knowing your hunger will be satiated soon enough.  And then there it is, right in front of you.  A shift in the wind brings its scent floating across your nose.  You prepare to strike when suddenly, the weather shifts.  It’s a blizzard.  The snow falls in huge flakes, white whipping at you from the intense wind; and the temperature is cold, bone-chilling cold.  What do you do?  As a writer do you know?  Do you know how to make your character survive and not have your readers rip to shreds for realism, because let’s face, they will.

         Supernaturals have the best abilities when it comes to facing cold survival.  Vampires tend to be cold anyway so there really is no issue and no reason to discuss them.  If your character happens to be a witch I believe there would be a few options for you.  Witches come in different varieties and most writers don’t believe in one witch having all abilities.  So, some witches can teleport, freeze things, burn people, read minds, etc.  It just doesn’t work.  So what are the abilities of your witch?  Use them to your advantage.  If your witch can teleport, get them the heck out of there and to someplace warm!  If they can create fire, I would advise doing that immediately.

         If your character is a werewolf, the direction you decided to go when choosing your belief will now decide how easy this situation will be for your character.  Do you believe that your werewolf only shifts on full moons?  Yes or no?  Did you say yes?  Kick yourself now because you just made things difficult.  If your werewolf can shift anytime they please, have them shift and all will be fine.  Their thick fur coat will protect them from the storm.  Direct them to a thicket of some type or dig out a hole in the snow (igloo).

         If you chose the direction of shifting only on a full moon well then this situation will depend on if your character is in wolf or human form.  If in wolf form, refer to the above paragraph and all will be fine.  If you are in human form, an entire new set of rules must now be applied.

         Human skin doesn’t deal well with weather and especially temperature.  Humans also tend to have more needs and sensitivity than the supernatural.  So even if your character is not a werewolf, if they are a human, this is where you will want to pay attention.  There are many important things you need/need to asses to survive as a human in an extreme cold situation.

         Shelter.  This is the key to survival when the temperature drops rapidly.  Use what you have around you.  If the character is in the woods are there any buildings around?  People often say well I’ll just build a shelter from the trees, I’m in the woods right?  Okay that’s true that you are in the woods.  But how much energy are you going to burn up ripping all those branches off the trees and then piling them up together?  A lot.  It really isn’t worth it.

         It may seem counterproductive but your better option is the snow.  Dig.  The Inuits have been doing it this way for a long time for a reason.  Igloos really work, and although you don’t have the time to make a proper one to invite mom over for dinner, you can dig a hole in the snow and wedge your body into it.  Make it big enough to place yourself in and then rest.  The heat off your body will radiate off the walls and keep you warm.  After a while you can work on it again and make it bigger.