Need advice from gal who does rough camping.
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Need advice from gal who does rough camping.
The low down: I’m a first-time novelist, first-time NaNo writing a mainstream fiction novel that I never intended to have much in the way of romantical entanglements. But I also tend to let the story tell itself, and I’ve ended up with a small piece of the story that I just don’t know is believable from the POV of a female reader, especially one who does a lot of rough camping (no pre-built latrines or other modern conveniences).
So here goes: Romania, 1830’s. Girl leaves home town and becomes a traveler because she likes traveling. Dresses like a man to minimize hassles along the way. Girl meets boy and they travel as companions for a period of time. (Yes, they eventually marry.)
Question: Is it in any way believable that a woman could pull off traveling through the woods for several months, no modern conveniences, with a man (separate tents) without that man cluing in that his companion is actually a she? I don’t need to know the details of how she pulled it off, I just need a simple “No way” or “Hard but possible.” I don’t want female readers to immediately think “No way!” If this part of the story can’t work, I’ll just edit it out.
Thanks!
Re: Need advice from gal who does rough camping.
Maybe... as far as modern conveniences go, if this is the 1830s they didn't have modern conveniences anyway, so she would be used to it. There would be the issue of menstruation (women used to use rags which I'm guessing he would notice her washing or something unless she was particularly sneaky) and she would probably have to bind her boobs. There is the issue of going to the bathroom too - the men that I've been camping with just whip it out and go wherever. Women, for obvious reasons, can't do that.
She could do it though. There's been cases of women who fought in the Civil War etc. disguised as men and they had a lot more than just one man to worry about. Sorry if that's not much help.
Re: Need advice from gal who does rough camping.
Your point about the Civil War is well taken. I may be over-thinking this.
In my writing today I came up with a solution to the menstruation challenge: Amenorrhea. If a woman's body fat percentage drops below around 14% her menstrual cycle stops. My character intentionally leaned out until she induced amenorrhea. It's not a healthy thing to do, but she probably wouldn't know that in 1830.
The bosum problem was easy -- she just wasn't large to begin with and wears loose clothing.
The standing-up peeing was a tough challenge. My solution: When she travels with a guy, she pretends to pee standing once a day within eyeshot of him and that's enough to prevent him from thinking that she never does. She also "shaves" her face every day. I've also made her blond so the lack of a 5 o'clock shadow isn't an issue.
I've also considered some extreme disguising, like arm tatoos and shaving her head, but the character doesn't seem to think that's necessary and won't agree to do it.
Re: Need advice from gal who does rough camping.
There are modern devices for women to be able to pee standing up, and they're fairly simple. You can make one out of a coffee can lid, for example. They're really just little funnel-type things, and I'm sure that she could manage to rig something like this up.
here's one that's a bit more complex:
http://www.femalefreedom.ca/
Also when I was looking for a link to one of those products just now, I found this:
http://www.stand2pee.com/
So, there's that. Maybe with some practice she wouldn't even need an aide.