Hazel Phillips, author of Fire & Ice talks to NZ Booklovers about her process:
‘Can you tell us a little about the new book?
Fire & Ice is an exploration of the European human footprint in Tongariro National Park and a love letter to my favourite mountain, Ruapehu. I wanted to know: what existed once you stepped off the tracks? What lay in places people seldom trod? And what would Ruapehu allow me to find, if I went gently and asked respectfully?
I went searching, first for history and story, and secondly in real life. I roped in unsuspecting friends to join me on these missions, and you’ll get to meet them, too.
I wanted to know Ruapehu more thoroughly, but I also want people to think about our impact on these mountains, particularly in advance of Te Kāhui Maunga cultural redress processes. These mountains are real treasures, and they need to be looked after.
How difficult was it writing Fire & Ice and what did you find different about the process from your previous books?
The book is a bit of a monster compared to books I’ve written before – it’s 130,000 words and that’s the cut-down version. Wrangling that into a coherent structure was a challenge, as well as deciding what to leave out – I had so much potential content, I could’ve written two books.
I also didn’t know if the premise would work out, when I started – would I be able to actually find all these things, or would I just have the history part and a whole bunch of stories of failure? But I got the sense that Ruapehu, in particular, was letting me in, and sometimes I found a lot more than I’d bargained for (you’ll see what I mean in chapter 7).
What research was involved?
Two types – firstly, digging into the stories and histories – for example, the three plane crashes on Ruapehu, climbers gone missing, or various alpine rescues. That involved going back through old newspaper accounts, books, papers, and sometimes tracking down the ancestors of those involved. Secondly, there was a tangible, physical type of research, where I went out into Tongariro National Park and tried to trace these histories in present day, on the landscape – for example, to find the remnants of plane wrecks, memorial cairns, and derelict huts. Both types of research really spin my wheels. It was a joy to write, and I hope it’s equally fun to read.’
Read the rest of the interview here.
