The men on the shows struggle against enormous obstacles. Perhaps it's the weather: from 20 to 50 degrees below 0; predators: rampaging grizzlies, ferocious wolves, giant cougars,
If the transport requires work to fix, daylight is always fading and the man must spend the night in this frozen inhospitable wilderness. He relies on his wits and cunning to keep from freezing/starving/dehydrating/being mauled or eaten by predators.
Of course, the first thing he must do is start a fire. The wind may be howling and snuffs out match after match until they're all gone. So there he huddles, rubbing two sticks together, or scraping his trusty flint, hoping against hope for that magic spark to begin the fire that will keep him alive.
At this point, I tend to interrupt the fictive dream and say, "Why doesn't he ask the cameraman or other film crew member if he could borrow a lighter?" To further annoy, I add, "If I was in that situation I'd hop into the motorhome. Which is probably what he'll do as soon as he gets a small blaze going and the camera is turned off for the night. Jump in the heated motorhome, have hot coffee or cold beer with the group, watch some satellite TV ..."
We laugh about it, about the fabricated drama added to the story. Effective? Well, the shows do have an audience and run for season after season.
This reminds me that my stories need the element of drama to keep readers turning the page. I don't want obvious fabricated drama, or melodrama, but something that arises in a natural way among characters and situations I created.
Many have said there must be conflict or tension on every page to keep the reader hooked. To me, whichever way you look at it, it's drama.
––Cat
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