Writing Realistic Quests

I don't know if anyone else notices these things besides me, but it seems to me that some quests in novels are more realistic than others. In my humble opinion, if you're writing the quest correctly, most of the time your characters should feel like this:

Just so, Russel.

Lots of different issues pop up when traveling, even on a road trip. But don't think about it like a road trip. In fantasy (but really, why am I being specific, because where else would a quest be?) a better way to think about a quest is to think of it like a hike. If you've been hiking, you know how you have to ration your water, ration your snacks, constantly take a break because your feet start hurting- that kind of thing. Those are all the kinds of issues your questers should hit.

Supplies
Your characters, can, and most definitely will, run out of supplies. And when they do, you have to think about how far they thought they could make it before they ran out. Surely they thought they would have made it to somewhere they could get more supplies. And why did they run out in the first place? Did someone get sick and need extra food? Did a raccoon get into the supplies? Did they leave a bag behind somewhere by accident? Or it could be just a case of bad math in the rationing. Maybe the person in charge of the chow just didn't estimate correctly.

Injuries
Someone on the quest could get hurt. Injuries happen all the time. It could be as simple as everyone's feet getting sore. Or you could go more drastic. Someone could fall out of a tree trying to get an apple and break their ankle. Someone could get wet overnight and catch a cold- then still have to travel! Health is something that doesn't wait for your convenience. And it would make the journey a little more interesting to have someone to keep an eye on.

People
The people involved in your quest can cause problems, too. One of the people leading the quest could have brought a 'guide', who turns out to be less than trustworthy. The whole group could be a motley gang of people who don't even know or trust each other. One of them could get crabby when they're tired, and everyone else doesn't know just to leave her alone when she's crabby, therefore causing a huge argument. And don't forget your character's motivations. 'Your character has to want something- even if it's just a glass of water', but what if it's getting too dangerous and they start wanting it less? Some of them might quit.

Resting
The matter of when to stop for a snack break or a quick breather isn't so much about what can go wrong, but think about everything that goes along with it. You can't stop too often, and you can't push everyone for hours without rest either. There's a balance. Where will they sleep? In the woods? What if none of the inns have a vacancy? Or what if the only inn with a vacancy is in a bad part of town and someone has to keep watch all night so they don't get robbed? What then?
A lot of this is about world building and knowing your characters down to the color of their toothbrush. If you know all this well, the answers should come easily.

Transportation
I'm going to be honest with you. If they're riding horses, the transportation could up and die.
Or if they're lucky enough to have a carriage or a wagon, what do they plan on doing with it after the quest? Your characters don't have to make the whole trip by only one means. Maybe they walk half the way, then the other half they're riding pegasi. Or they could hitch a ride. Or maybe they did have a wagon, but then it broke and they had to leave it behind.
And here's another thing. If they're on foot, they won't be able to run that far, no matter how many of the enemy are behind them. Unless they're a race that normally run super long distances, most of your characters can probably only run a couple miles before having to stop. Maybe not even that, if they're really out of shape. And running long-distance isn't even very fast. You've seen people 'running' on the side of the road. It's basically just a slightly faster jog. Energy has to be conserved. Your characters are probably better off hiding in the underbrush and hoping they don't get trampled than running from people on horseback.

These are all very important things to remember when you're writing a quest within your novel. I know I forget these things all the time. Normally my characters get places way faster than they should on foot. And for some reason, their supplies never seem to run out. If you need to, make yourself a list of the things that can go wrong and stick it next to your writing area. I'll give you the basic list: food, water, exhaustion, injury, sickness, motivation, mistrust, and transportation. Might need to make one of those lists for myself for when I write my next quest...


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