Far North (18 page)

In the summer of 1993 my wife, Jean, and I, along with a friend, waved good-bye to the bush pilot who had dropped us off, and started down the South Nahanni River in a raft and a canoe. The seed idea for
Far North
came to mind as I was standing on the cliffs above the awesome spectacle of Virginia Falls.

Evenings in camp I was reading Dangerous River, a book by R. M. Patterson describing his experiences on the Nahanni in the 1920s. I was falling under the spell of the river and its lore. I went on to read many other books and journals about the people, the land, and the history of the Northwest Territories, but Patterson's book, with its firsthand account of winter in Deadmen Valley and along the Nahanni, provided me with the weather- and calendar-related detail I would need
to write a winter survival story in this setting.

The dirt-floored cabin that sheltered Gabe and Raymond in
Far North
can still be found in Deadmen Valley today. It was built in several weeks' time by Patterson and his partner, Gordon Matthews, in the fall of 1927, and sits along Wheatsheaf Creek a short walk up from the Nahanni. In mid-December, Matthews attempted to trek out for supplies after the pair realized “the complete exodus of game from the valley.” Turned back by pockets of open water in the canyons of the Nahanni, Matthews set out again on Christmas Eve.

Reduced to “tea, salt, beans, and rolled oats,” Patterson waited until early February for his partner's return, then tried the canyons himself. Each survived to tell their tales of extreme winter conditions, open water, and collapsing ice bridges.

 

Interview Questions for Will Hobbs

1. In your Author's Note, you mention that the initial idea for
Far North
came to you on the cliffs above Virginia Falls. What was it you were seeing in your imagination?

I was seeing two characters on the pontoons of a floatplane, paddling for their lives as the current drew them ever closer to the brink. The image didn't come from thin air. Earlier that day, while portaging the falls, I met a park ranger who told me about an incident from the previous summer involving a bush pilot who landed his floatplane above the falls, only to have the motor stall and the battery die. His passengers were able to paddle the airplane to shore, barely in time. Within hours of hearing this story, I was already thinking about writing a novel. What if the passengers were able
to reach the shore, but lost the airplane over the falls? I knew that if this were to happen only days before freeze-up, I'd have a winter survival story on my hands.

2. Did you begin writing as soon as you got home?

Months of reading came first. I wanted to learn things that might factor into the story and give it a ring of authenticity, especially about the native people and their lives in winter.

3. Winter is certainly the ruling factor in the story. Have you ever camped out in those kinds of conditions?

Twice, in early January, I snowshoed about ten miles into the mountains of southwestern Colorado, near where I live. I wanted to see some of my favorite summer spots transformed by winter. The nights at 10,000 feet went down to around twenty below. When I was writing about minus fifty in
Far North,
I had at least an inkling.

4. After your own rafting trip down the Nahanni in 1993, did your memories of the falls and the canyons give you ideas for the story, and did
things that happened on your trip come into play in the novel?

I got the idea for the log raft that the boys built from the driftpiles we saw below the falls. When the log raft is swept under the overhang and Johnny Raven is knocked into the river, I was closely describing Figure of Eight rapid, which was a wild ride. Clint, the young bush pilot in the story, was inspired by the bush pilot who met our plane when we flew into Fort Nelson, British Columbia, to begin our trip. Gabe's experiences in the first chapter are drawn closely from ours. “Clint” met us in a mud-encrusted Suburban and drove to Fort Liard at speeds of up to eighty-four miles per hour—on gravel, while showing me fishing lures! That was truly the riskiest part of our Nahanni adventure.

5. Where does Gabe Rogers, the narrator, come from?

In my teaching days, I had a student who was quite a running back, wrestler, and reader. He was my inspiration for Gabe. I had him hail from Texas so that the North would be completely alien to him. Gabe's memories of the hill country and San Antonio are mine, from my high school years.

6. Raymond Providence is from Nahanni Butte, the village at the foot of the Nahanni River. How did you form your impressions of what life would be like as a teenager there?

I'll always remember the heavy metal music blasting from the rec center when we stopped and visited Nahanni Butte on our trip. The village has a diesel generator, and a big satellite TV dish. Seeing the kids, I was trying to imagine what it must be like to grow up in such a tiny, remote village with no roads, no cars. Back home, I researched the experience of teenagers from far-flung villages who attend the boarding school in Yellowknife.

7. From the start, did you plan on having the boys stranded with an elder?

Not at all. It was only when I found materials written by Dene elders lamenting their young people's lack of a “bush education” that I realized it wouldn't be plausible for the boys to survive midwinter on their own, no matter that they were sturdy, sixteen, and courageous. The knowledge required is just too profound. The boys needed an elder along, at least for a while.

8.
Far North
wouldn't be remotely the same without Johnny Raven.

He's the heart of the story. Without him,
Far North
would have been merely about physical survival. With him, it's about the survival of an entire way of life.

9. You're very active: you've backpacked, run rivers, done sea kayaking. Is it the desire to continue writing adventure novels that inspires you to keep pursuing your own adventures?

I've always enjoyed being in wild places, and would be doing all these same things even if I wasn't a writer. I don't go to new places in search of a story, but I do keep my eye out. I often find myself thinking, “I wish my readers could see this.” When I'm lucky enough to find a character and a premise to go with the setting, I set to work in the hopes of journeying back, this time with my readers along.

10. What is the most physically challenging experience you have had in nature?

On the first of my ten trips rowing my own raft
through the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River was at flood stage—about six times the normal amount of water. What a challenge, and what a thrill. Some of the rapids were on a scale I've never seen since.

11. How do you shift gears from being physically active as you travel to being mentally focused as you write? What is your writing process like?

The hard things I've done in the outdoors help with the mental stamina necessary to pull me through the long days at my desk. Sometimes I get nowhere; other times the words come in a flood. I'm like a rat in a maze, hitting lots of dead ends on my way to the prize. I do outline, but invariably my best ideas come subconsciously as I'm imagining being the character in the situation. I take breaks to stretch or to see if anything new has appeared in the refrigerator. I revise a lot; there are usually four or five drafts. I've learned that each story has its own rules, which I'll discover if I'm patient enough to hang in there. Writing fiction is mysterious, somewhat magical, and hugely gratifying.

1.
What was it that enabled two boys like Gabe and Raymond to survive several winter months in a remote wilderness in the Northwest Territories, despite the odds they were up against?

2.
If you had been stranded along with Gabe, Raymond, and Johnny Raven, would you have survived the winter? How might you have helped them survive? How might you have held them back?

3.
What do Raymond and Gabe fear the most? What would you have been most afraid of if you'd accompanied them on their adventure?

4.
Raymond and Gabe's relationship seems to grow stronger as their situation becomes life threatening. Why do they become closer friends as their adventure gets more dangerous?

5.
Johnny says, “…the life that we lived on the land was much more interesting.” Based on Gabe
and Raymond's experiences, would you say that a life lived in the wilderness would be more interesting than a life filled with modern conveniences?

6.
Will Hobbs is a master storyteller who uses suspense to keep his readers on the edge of their seats. How does the writing in
Far North
bring Canada's Northwest Territories alive? What were your favorite scenes in the book?

7.
Johnny Raven's last words are “Take care of the land, take care of yourself, take care of each other.” How do Raymond and Gabe apply his words to their struggle for survival? How might his words apply to all of us in our own lives?

8.
Through their ordeal in the wilderness, Gabe and Raymond develop a deep respect for Johnny Raven and his wisdom. What does this element of the story suggest about the way we should view and treat the “elders” of our families and our communities?

9.
How do you think Gabe and Raymond's adventures will change them? Imagine a future for each of them.