Hey writer friends, I'm grafting away at my novel and there's a particular scene that I writing which takes place in a park. The main characters have climbed on one of those structures that are there for that purpose. that is to say, kids are supposed to climb on them. The problem I am having is that I am getting stuck on ways to describe this climbing THING without constantly using the term 'climbing structure' so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on other ways to refer to this piece of playground equipment. Where I grew up we would call it a climbing frame, but I'm not sure if that term would be universally understood. Any help would be greatly appreciated, because although I have tired to set this issue aside and continue on so that I may return to it later - it keeps bothering me! Blue
Jungle gym, monkey bars, climbing frame, dome, pyramid, metal pipe structure, rope structure, slides...wikipedia has an article on jungle gyms, too, you may check out.
Then be literal in what they do, "She swung on the bars, climbed the plastic ladder, raced up the slide, etc." Do not have various names to describe the same thing, be consistent in your description of the structures. A different name could be a jungle gym, monkey bars, or play structure.
I disagree with this. Repetition can become an issue, which is why I believe the OP was asking. For example, there's no harm in referring to a dog as a hound or a canine, which would be using various names to describe the same thing. Consistency is still needed. Don't refer a dome jungle gym to monkey bars because they are (obviously) not the same thing, yet they are technically both jungle gyms. Switching up the words, as long as it remains clear what you are talking about, shouldn't be a problem though.
I think all of us have played at the playground when we were kids (and walked by playgrounds on a regular basis as adults), and while each playground is different, they all have the same basic elements. Climbing structures; swings; tires; those horse/dragon/other animal shaped seats on springs that you can ride back and forth on; those things you spin on; etc. So it doesn't require a whole lot of description for a reader to get a good mental image of your playground. (In fact, even if you do describe it, they'll probably just envision the one they played on as a child anyway. At least I would.) I realize you don't want to say "climbing structure" each sentence...but you don't have to. If you've established that the kids are on the climbing structure, you only need to say it once.
Hi, Climbing frame, play fort, play castle, and as different parts of it you might have a rope bridge, flying fox, rope swing, rope ladder, horizontal bars etc. Cheers.
Thanks for the help! The structure I have in mind is a dome shaped climbing frame - no other 'toys' attached. The problem I was having was that one kid climbed up, a second followed and a third caught up and had to scan the area before realising where the other kids were...... so I want to make it apparent that all 3 kids are getting to the same place, without using the same words to get them there... I was also thinking that the term 'jungle gym' would mistakenly lead the reader to believe it was one of those multifaceted structures with monkey bars, slides etc attached. Gracias!
You can also say things like: "X slid down the central pole". You don't need to say "the central pole of the monkey bars" since you have already established that is where the kids are playing.
