Setting the Scene

How travel, close quarters, and only-one-bed brought my characters together.

- BY CHIP PONS

When I began writing Winging It with You, I knew I wanted to write a love story wrapped in adventure. Something sweeping and cinematic, with passport stamps, plane tickets, and the chaos that comes with reality television. But more than that, I wanted to explore the true adventure inherent in intimacy, forced vulnerability, and the way relationships evolve (and unravel) when people are pulled out of their routines and placed in unfamiliar surroundings. It didn’t take long to see that the turbulence of the journey here was what cracked open the emotional core of this story.

Setting can be a character in its own right. It shapes dialogue, pushes plot, and carves out space for vulnerability. In this book, it was the glue and gasoline. The thing that brought my characters together and ignited a relationship.