A Descent into the Maelstrom

One of the more daunting storylines written into my novel THE HOLE takes place on a cargo ship caught in a maelstrom on English Bay. At the same time the captain and crew contend with this massive whirlpool, the city of Vancouver disappears into a giant sinkhole on the nearby shore. How does a landbound novelist get into the head of a seasoned ship’s Master in a situation like that? The storyline amounts to only four chapters in the whole novel; still, I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. To this day, I have yet to step onto a cargo ship, and the largest vessel I’ve captained was a canoe. After tons of research, and many re-writes, the storyline took shape to become one of my favorites. The end result brings a breadth and — pardon the pun — depth to the story that, even as the writer, takes my breath away.