have you ever lived in or spent the night in a cave?

The first question is how big a cave, if it is small and just for shelter then it is not much different then say a tent, just doesn't burn down. However if it is larger or has caverns behind it then things can get a little stranger, if it is deep in a cave then it will be black, and I don't mean night black I mean pitch black and silent. There is nothing quite like the silence of deep caves. I love it.

I have.

Given, it was a well lit cave with an easy exit, but they did take us to some parts of the caves where there was absolute darkness - no light at all. When I say you can't see the light in front of your hand, I mean it. Different parts of the cave were - well - different. All of it was freezing cold, but some parts were extremely muddy while others were dry. All of it was very humid though. The caverns sizes ranged from football fields to less than a bathroom stall to the point where you had to slither half on your stomach half on your side to get through. The ground hurts to sleep on. If you ever thought sleeping on the grass or on a wooden floor hurt, you've never slept in a cave. I literally had bruises the next morning. My back has never ached so badly. Also, going through the caves themselves made all our legs and arms incredibly sore the next morning - and we're in good shape. It's fine when you're going through it, but not so much after. There were also a lot of cliffs, a lot of random water (with albino shrimp in it!), and a lot of tight places. The sounds were mostly water trickling somewhere, and it about ends there. Its a really creepy, but fabulous place to be. Absolute darkness is pretty mind cleansing.

You may want to consider how your character will survive in the cave. I'm pretty sure if someones in there for just three days without light they can go insane. Maybe a week, my memory isn't that great.

loved the ambience of your feedback. do tell more about the silence of a cave.

i love silence
and the mystery.

the stranger the better, I imagine, do tell a bit more.. please.

enjoy nano
and thank you...

laurel@symbolicbridging.com

aka aisling

aka

http://www.symbolicbridging.com/
http://www.aislingnano.wordpress.com/

Hi

wonderful evocative responses. thank you.

After listening to your posts I want the cave to be big enough to be as mysterious as possible and as silent as possible.

What does it feel like when you awaken at three am and don't remember where you are until you sense the embrace???
coldness? mystery? of the cave?

I'm going to imagine I am in a cave after I do the write or die one more time before the dream world entangles me.

best

alchemynovels@gmail.com

aka

Aisling

http://www.symbolicbridging.com/
http://www.aislingnano.wordpress.com/

Waking up in darkness and silence is both absolutely petrifying and wonderfully peaceful at the same time. There is those moments when you first wake and try and take stock of your surroundings, but there are none accept the hard cold stone beneath you. Once your brain remebers where you are the first thing you need is light, you funble you search you need like, and then you feel increadably small, depending on how large a caven you are in. I slept once in a giagantic caven and lighting my torch and seeing the light just disapear before it reached the cealing was amazing. Time seems to travel differently, without a watch you have no idea how much time has past. You wonder why you are hungry during the day. Sometimes you thing ages has gone and only 5 mins in real time has gine, sometimes hours past in seconds. Its very hard to trust your instints and internal clocks as they rest so much on seeing sunlight.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask any more questiosn or MSG me if you like

petrifying and wonderful seem to be a wonderful alchemical recipe for the dynamic tension in a novel scene.

Do say more if any additional de tales come to mind/imagination/memory...
thank you!

journey well

Laurel aka Aisling

http://www.symbolicbridging.com/
http://www.aislingnano.wordpress.com/

If you did not leave the cave,
for a week
would it feel like everything was closing in or opening up, or both?

http://www.symbolicbridging.com/
http://www.aislingnano.wordpress.com/