Parkour is suddenly everywhere
When I first heard of Parkour it was probably 2009, and I no longer remember how it came to my attention but it was probably the opening scenes to Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond movie. It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen such a thing before, but that was when it struck me, and somehow I learned that what I was seeing was called Parkour. I had already had the first glimmerings of the book that would become Nike’s Wings in my mind – a female assassin, trained by the US government. Beside how she came to be made an assassin, I wanted something that would make Nike unique, and utterly believable. Watching that, suddenly I had the one element that set Nike apart from all others.
I devoured videos of parkour, learned more about it and the sport they call free-running. I envisioned the techniques used, remembering my days of gymnastics as a teen, as well as what I’d learned in jiujitsu, and so Nike was born.
You have to see those videos to know what traceurs and traceuses are truly capable of. Here’s a sample of David Belle, who developed Parkour into an art.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY1pbc16ud4
Of course, now they’re all over the place. Parkour practitioners are showing up on American Ninja and in plenty of movie and TV shows. It still amuses me that some people think Nike’s skills are a little exaggerated. I don’t use half the techniques in Nike that real traceurs use, although I do use the videos to help me visualize the action.
So much of Nike is unique. One of my editors says I write action/thrillers with heart. That works for me.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GHE94K
Valerie Douglas is a prolific writer and genre-crosser, much to the delight of her fans. She reads and writes classic fantasy, romance, suspense, and as 
