Location: United States
Member Since: Jan. 13, 2018

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D.W. Tarvos

Biography

In 1990 I began my Alaska life by walking over the coastal mountains from British Columbia and hitching a ride on a cargo plane loaded with gold ore to Southeast Alaska. Living in various towns of Alaska I earned enough to get out of town and into the wild. From lowly cannery worker to shipwright, to security guard, to gold miner, to commercial fisherman, to trapper, to carpenter, to owning several businesses( antique dealer, moving business, carver, writer) I've taken on the various jobs and experiences with the intention of eventually writing about them when the time comes.
Living off the land involved "learning fast", including how to find and process plants and mushrooms, hunt the unique animals, tan hides by hand, make one's own clothing, and read the weather. I wore out several canoes paddling fifteen thousand plus miles, 5000 on the Yukon and interior Alaska and the rest in Southeast Alaska. In 2004, on my way to the Wild I ran into an unsuspected adventure, soon finding myself living in Australia. After marrying an Australian I returned to Alaska and started living the civilized, sort of, life. Still living in remote Alaska, in the coldest inhabited town in North America with my wife and daughter we spend our time growing a garden, hunting, fishing, racing with a small team of sled dogs, and of course writing.

Smashwords Interview

What is your writing process?
A story can develop in one day or over twenty years. The first version of The Wolf That Follows was written in the winter of 1998-1999. Written by hand in a spiral notebook by kerosene lantern, it was intended as a story for those who wanted to know what it was like to live in the wild. The story sat up in a cache in the trees for years, then traveled around Alaska here and there until last year when I reviewed that first version and updated it. A story might remain in my head for a year or two as I piece it together, change or alter the sequence and add or subtract characters.
Being an INTJ personality I don't use the usual methods. Editing is the majority of time spent writing. A story might be edited over thirty times before I can " let it go."
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
As a child I read books like other kids ate candy. The first story that I could relate to and had a profound influence would have been Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe. As an extreme introvert INTJ I could relate to the main character Eugene Gant and to Wolfe himself. Not only was it unusual to encounter a book about such an introverted boy, his difficulties in getting along in the extrovert loving world but amazing that such a book could become so popular in the extrovert dominated world.
Read more of this interview.

Books

The Wolf That Follows by
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 83,300. Language: English. Published: March 24, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Adventure » Men’s adventure, Fiction » Western
Of the many who venture North to Alaska very few ever find reality matches their expectations. The Wolf That Follows is a story of five young men seeking adventure in the North and after being mauled by reality instead of quitting as most do risk it all to find the their dream. Some find failure, others sheer frustration, and one finds what he was looking for.

D.W. Tarvos' tag cloud

alaska    alone    bear    fishing    great    hunting    river    survival    wilderness    yukon