Sunburn, Sore Feet and Confined Spaces

Sounds like the title of a book, doesn't it. But, that's exactly what I got this weekend after attending a rock concert (The Soundwave Festival up at Brisbane, Australia). They had a great line up like Paramore, Faith No More, HIM, AFI, so it was worth going.

I've got a new motto for this year: "Just get out there and experience it".

People always say "write what you know", and the problem with that was... I didn't know anything (well, anything exciting enough to write about). I've learned that personal experiences go a long way in improving one's writing even if you don't use that particular scene. For instance, I now know what it's like to be in a sardine fit area (and we weren't even in any room... this was an open field and as you can see from above there were a LOT of people) out in the sun with a lot of people jumping around.

I can still feel the bass vibrating the ground, smell the stink of stale deodorants and sweaty bodies and feel the heat from everyone out on the field. There was even a time I feared for my life... and that's being serious. Imagine being short (not overly short, but in comparison to some of the guys there) and everyone jumping up and down, bouncing side to side and spinning around without paying attention to where anyone else is (memo to self: it's not good to be short and stand in the centre of the mosh pit at a heavy metal band).

So,  does anyone else go out and get experiences to help with writing or do you just imagine what it would be like to be in that situation?