Coming March 31, 2012
KILIMANJARO: ONE MAN’S QUEST TO GO OVER THE HILL
A World Adventurers Book
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The porters of Kilimanjaro are featured in my book Kilimanjaro: One Man’s Quest to Go Over the Hill, which chronicles my attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. The book is on sale now as an e-book for $3.99 and in paperback for $9.99 from Amazon and other booksellers.
They are the unsung heroes of any mountain climb — the guides, porters, and cooks who help climbers reach the summit and get back safely. The workers who serve on Mount Kilimanjaro are brave and dedicated souls who work for low pay and risk their lives to assist climbers in their quest to realize their dreams.
Guides, porters, and cooks have helped thousands of people climb Kilimanjaro since the mountain was first summited in 1889. That team, led German professor Hans Meyer and Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller, included a local guide, nine porters, and a cook.
Although climbers are responsible for getting themselves to the summit, their support team carries most of the gear and equipment they need to do the climb. Each porter and cook carries up to 15 kilograms (33 pounds), a heavy burden to bear for days and hours on end, again and again, up and down, in any kind of weather, over different kinds of terrain.
Cooks carry all the food and equipment needed to prepare meals.
Porters haul climbers who need to be evacuated from Kilimanjaro down in a mobile stretcher — something that looks like a wheel barrow.
Workers arrive at camps ahead of time and set up campsites so they’re ready when the climbers arrive. For every climber on the mountain, there may be three or more assistants helping them.
Although working conditions on Kilimanjaro can be difficult, most guides, porters, and cooks are passionate about their jobs and take pride in being a member of an elite group. Many start out as porters or cooks and become guides after graduating from mountaineering school. Park management hires some graduates as park rangers. A few go on to start their own tour companies.
Workers who don’t earn much money often make do with whatever clothing or equipment they can afford or hand-me-downs donated by climbers. In some cases, their wardrobe may consist of tattered shirts, light jackets, worn pants, loafers or tennis shoes with inadequate soles. Underdressed workers often race up the mountain and pass climbers with expensive clothing and gear.
If you hire an outfitter or guide to help you climb Mount Kilimanjaro, please consider these suggestions when you’re on the mountain.
I appreciate what my team did for me on my climb. There was no way I could have focused on climbing Kilimanjaro if I had to what they did for me. I’m grateful that they carried my heavy bags, set up and took down my tent every day, cooked and served me food, and made sure I survived.
The workers on Kilimanjaro are heroes behind the scenes who deserve credit and respect for doing the difficult job of helping climbers reach a place that would otherwise be uninhabited by humans.
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In part one of a two-part series examining what transforms a book series into a cultural phenomenon, I identified three such series: Harry Potter, Twilight, and with its March 23, 2012, debut as a major motion picture, The Hunger Games. Each one contains common story elements that transformed them into literary sensations.
If you aspire to write the next book phenomenon, you should consider adding the following elements to your story.
Warning — this post includes a few plot spoilers.
Genres: The series should be in the Young Adult genre with crossover appeal to an adult audience. It should attract readers from both genders. It should have elements of Speculative Fiction (Fantasy or Science Fiction) with Romance between the lead character and one or more supporting characters. Love triangles work.
Setting: The setting should involve contemporary society with elements of fantasy. If the story is set in the future, it should be realistic enough to appeal to a large audience.
Protagonists: The lead character must be young with a strong personality and power(s) that makes them special, yet human with vulnerabilities that make them unforgettably unique. Readers should be able to identify personally with the protagonist.
Supporting characters/sidekicks: The protagonist should have close, loyal friends who will help him or her achieve an epic goal and defeat a formidable foe. They may be romantically involved with the lead character. A trio usually works, and both genders should be represented. The three should have distinct personalities but be compatible.
Sage: The series should include a sage who helps guide the protagonist and their friends on a quest. The sage need not be old, wise, or male; they simply have to be the primary source the protagonist turns to for guidance.
Family tragedy: The protagonist should experience a major family tragedy, perhaps losing a parent or both parents, which forces them to seek revenge, retribution, or reconciliation. Although the tragedy should be dramatic enough to build sympathy for the character, the emotional scars should not be too great for the character to overcome.
Strong villain: The antagonist should be a strong and memorable personality at the center of the protagonist’s struggle. There may be more than one antagonist in the series, but one should be the principle villain. They should have at least one redeeming trait or quirky behavior that makes them appealing to readers.
Coming of age: The protagonist needs to grow up and mature as the series progresses in a literary rite of passage. It’s better to start the story when the character is younger so that by the end of the series they have reached adulthood.
Epic tension: The story should include an epic quest, conflict, struggle, or tension that drives the story. Good versus evil is an old standby that works, but the story can also involve shades of gray that address contemporary moral and ethical issues. The story should have a decisive goal that, if met, will resolve the conflict.
Action and emotion: The story should balance action and emotion. It’s no coincidence that Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games were written by women who excelled at bringing out the emotion and affection in their characters and as well as delivering action and adventure needed to move the plot. Each deals with difficult topics such as death; at least one major character dies or is near death in all three.
Original reinterpretation of popular themes: The series should exploit a theme in popular culture that appeals to readers. All three reinterpret familiar stories in an original way that attracts a large audience. Many of the authors’ ideas are not new, but the way they package them is new and exciting to readers.
These are a few of the story elements common to the Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games. Adding them to your own story won’t guarantee that it will be the next major book phenomenon, but they will improve your odds. If you plan to write an epic series, make sure that you’ve included all of them in your story. Rather than mimicking their elements, try something new, and you might just find yourself on the cusp of the next big literary sensation.
This is part two of a two-part series examining what transforms a book series into a cultural phenomenon. Click here to read part one.
M.G. Edwards is a writer of books and stories in the mystery, thriller and science fiction-fantasy genres. He also writes travel adventures. He recently published a collection of short stories called Real Dreams: Thirty Years of Short Stories available as an ebook and in print on Amazon.com. His upcoming book, Kilimanjaro: One Man’s Quest to Go Over the Hill, will be released on March 31, 2012. He lives in Bangkok, Thailand with his wife Jing and son Alex.
For more books or stories by M.G. Edwards, visit his web site at www.mgedwards.com or his blog, World Adventurers. Contact him at me@mgedwards.com, on Facebook, on Google+, or @m_g_edwards on Twitter.
© 2012 Brilliance Press. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted without the written consent of the author.
