I'm currently working on chapter seven of my novel and i'm after some ideas for a camp out in a grassy area with some stone buildings and my characters have to use what is around them for shelter and to sit on and for ligting a fire
you need to be more specific what is it you want to know - per your 'tie up games' thread , no one has any interest in playing twenty questions
Then you're not going to get much help - we can't write your book for you, so if you want any meaningful advice you need to ask people for specifics - e.g if you were asking , how can they build a shelter ? you'd need to specify what materials they have available to them, likewise if you want to know how to light a fire we need to know what fuel is available and whether you are talking about lighting it with lighters/matches or if you want advice about using a firebow or something My advice is just write the scene and post it for critique ... if we are back in 'not giving the story away' territory then you are wasting your time, and ours That aside your best bet is to look at some camping/survival sites or forums and get some ideas that way
You can sit on literally anything you can get your butt on top of and you can burn anything that's either flammable or inflammable. So, hopefully there are some things like that in your grassy area.
but its your story - as I said we can't write your book for you instead of going round in circles lets see if we can move this forward with some questions to think about a) What sort of materials are scattered around .. wood, plastics, old roofing sheets etc ? b) what sort of condition are the buildings in, why not just use them for shelter ? c) do any of the characters smoke (ie do they have matches/lighters) d) are there woods/trees etc around that they can get dry twigs etc e) why are they camping is it just a camping trip, otr a survival situation or what f) did they bring any supplies with them and if so what ? To stress these aren't for you to give answers to for us to then write the scene, they are things you need to think about so that you can write it also a couple of things for research starters https://scouts.org.uk/media/581688/Victorinox-Survival-Skills-Resource-Building-a-Fire_Final-Proof.pdf http://www.skilledsurvival.com/survival-shelters/
Why do I even bother, the scene involves the teens coming across the aforementioned area hence the request for ideas
You also need to lose the attitude if you want any help.... if you don't want to be 'bothered' with posting these threads there is an obvious solution That aside ..So teens come across an area where there's some buildings and grass , and you want advice about what happens next ? As I said originally that is far too general for anyone to give you ideas without knowing what the story is about, what the story arc is ? etc really as I've said before you need to write something and post it for critique or ask some specific questions that people have a chance to answer
In that case, you're going to need to do the research yourself ...which I recommend in any case, really. This is your story, not ours. You're giving us nothing much to go on other than grass, stone building and 'characters.' Google is your friend. Figure out what kind of terrain you're in ...dry African grassland, somebody's front lawn, the middle of rainy Scotland ...and research what's available. Is it hot or cold? Can they use hot sunlight to start a fire with a piece of glass and dry kindling, or is it the middle of the night when they can't even see much at all? Is it likely to rain? Has it been raining? Have your characters got fire-lighting equipment? Will there be sticks around? Trees nearby to provide fuel? If not, will they need to cut, dry and burn peat? Maybe dried animal dung? And who are the characters, and how experienced are they? You don't even mention 'teens' until pretty far down this thread. Do your research and decide what your scenario is. If you get stuck, do ask us specific questions, but this post is way too general for us to want to dive in. It's the equivalent of saying "I've got people in a boat on the water. What do I do next?" We're not in the mood, really, to start asking you a million questions to figure out what's going on with your story—especially as you seem very reluctant to answer them. Without this information, we can't really be of help.
It is extraordinarily difficult to light a fire from scratch, way harder that people make it look on television or Youtube. I can make a friction fire every single time in my backyard with the drill I've used a hundred times. Finding the right stuff and making it in the field though, is a crap-shoot. A tinder bundle is the most important thing, it should be very thin and very dry. Usually up hanging in the wind is best. Adding certain types of flammable sap can also be a big help. You need a super soft, but super dry piece of straight wood for a spindle and a flat piece of harder dry wood for a base. The spindle can not have any sap in it.
"In one of the buildings they find a drum of naptha ... they soak a load of timber in it and spark a lighter ... with a huge boom a ten meter wide fireball ignites killing two of the teenagers and leaving the other two with life changing injuries ... the rest of the story is devoted to how they cope with plastic surgery and coming to terms with the deaths of their friends " "In one of the buildings they find an egg, when they gently heat it, it hatches and a dragon emerges" "the teenagers get completely shit faced on Mogen David wine then decide to play at tying each other up, one of them gets tied up and left and dies of hypothermia - the other three get convicted of his murder and taken into youth custody" And that should demonstrate why ideas given without any info about story arc or content are going to be useless
Are you, perhaps, aware that the members of this forum are not actually paid to do your writing for you? Has anyone ever taught you that when asking a favor, it can be useful to behave politely?
I know his profile says hes 36, but this feels like we are talking to a kid .... and a particularly ungrateful kid at that. I'm going to use the ignore function at this point and I encourage others to do likewise
@big soft moose -- You are a funny guy. I'd love to sit and have a couple beers with you, talk writing, forum gossip, etc. We'd share some good laughs. Just imagine if Mr. Inv gave the prompts for the flash fiction and the short story contests!
If you make it to the Uk give me a shout..... and he can't give the comp prompts, it'd be tantamount to saying "write what you like we don't care"
This is the grief I get for asking for help from a bunch of self righteous nobodies! Who's the better person? ME! If I ask for advice you give it, if you don't have anything nice to say bite your tongue!
We are happy to give advice (despite your rather regrettable attitude) ... just as soon as you ask a question with sufficient information not to make answering it a guessing game (you know like nearly everyone else on the forum manages to do)
Where's Wrey with the ban hammer when we need him.....stupid hurricane.... Oho, look guys, we're apparently here to give advice on demand! Here's some advice: Go take your tantrum somewhere else. @big soft moose and others tried to be nice, but you a) clearly have no desire to do any of the work yourself and b) have a sh***y attitude even when people ARE trying to help you. If you can't play nice and accept that WE REALLY CANNOT HELP YOU WHEN YOU ARE BEING INSUFFERABLY VAGUE then take your crappy story and piss off.
@minstrel has custody of Mjölnir I believe Don't beat around the bush so much , tell him how you really feel
