Making Fire!

Shadowlit · Dec 9, 2008

I've been writing a DnD-type story for some time, and I've just stumbled upon the problem of making fire. I'm not quite sure how my characters should start one out in the middle of nowhere, nor am I sure how people in a large community would.

The most common one I see is flint and tinder, but just wanted to see if there were other methods that anyone else here implemented in their stories.

And magic doesn't count. xD

jvc · Dec 9, 2008

How about a lighter? Or matches? How about fashioning a magnifing glass out of ice and using that? Ah, nuts, ya not allowed to use magic

MattW · Dec 9, 2008

Firebow?

Keep coals from previous fires?

Magnifying glass?

Google?

SPMiller · Dec 9, 2008

Flint-and-tinder is certainly one way. Flint is often found in, for example, chalk-rock formations. You often have to mine it from the rock. You might also find it in a creekbed.

You can probably strike it against one of your steel weapons to produce sparks.

The tinder will be a much tougher problem to solve. Good luck with that one. I recommend Google.

Polenth · Dec 9, 2008

It depends on the level of technology of your culture. If they have smelting and all that goodness, they may use a flint and steel.

Anything before that, they'll probably use a friction method. This includes things like firebows. Striking flints together did happen before mining/smelting, though it's not as sparky as using metal as the other striker (in my experience anyway).

These methods are all comparatively difficult. Fantasy books where the fire is lit in a windy, damp environment are just not happening. They'd need shelter and very dry materials to burn. So it's not unusual to see the fire being saved rather than lighting a new one each time. In a fixed community, this might mean one fire is always burning. For travellers, embers can be wrapped and carried to the next place.

But that's only the start of your problems. I've taught people to firelight with matches for years. Getting the first flame is made easy with matches, but turning it into a proper fire is harder. The things people struggle with are selecting things to burn, laying the fire and knowing when/how to feed the fire. For a realistic story, you'll want to know a bit about that too.

Shaun M · Dec 9, 2008

Rub two of your characters together really really fast!

Shadowlit · Dec 9, 2008

lol, that certainly solved a lot of my problems, Polenth, if not all of them. It was just never something I thought about until I ran into it. The firebow is probably something I'll run with during the traveling phases, and the community fire for towns.

Very insightful information. Sounds like I stumbled upon the resident fire-expert.

Thanks!

Shadowlit · Dec 9, 2008

Shaun M said:
Rub two of your characters together really really fast!

Yeah, then there would definitely be something flaming in that case. xD

Shaun M · Dec 9, 2008

And because I really didn't answer your question:

http://www.primitivefire.com/

maxmordon · Dec 9, 2008

What about a tinderbox?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinderbox

Smiling Ted · Dec 9, 2008

A few things...

The US Army's Field Survival Manual is available online, and includes a chapter on "Firecraft" that deals both with starting and building a fire. Strongly recommended reading.

"Saving" a fire as MattW and Polenth suggested is a classic technique. One of the standard ways to do this in Europe (until "lucifer" matchs showed up) was the so-called "slow match" - a short length of cloth or rope designed to smolder for a long time if maintained properly. Blackbeard the pirate was notorious for tying dozens of smoldering slow matches into his beard before a fight, both to light gunpowder and for psychological effect.

Finally...I was in Kenya about thirteen years ago, and a Rift Valley tribesman - Pokot, if I remember correctly - built a fire for us using friction. He kept two pieces of wood - a hardwood "spindle" and a softwood "base." He placed the base on a metal blade, put some elephant dung (tinder) on top of the base, and then rubbed the spindle into the tinder until it caught fire.

Hope that helps.

TrickyFiction · Dec 9, 2008

Shaun M said:
Rub two of your characters together really really fast!

I tried that. It got pretty hot.

SPMiller · Dec 10, 2008

Doesn't necessarily lead to fire, though.....

Fireworks, maybe. If you know what I mean.

AceTachyon · Dec 10, 2008

Is it possible to just say "They made a fire" and go from there?

Not to be snarky or anything, but is it necessary to the story how they make the fire?

I could be completely off-base here, y'unnerstan...

Don · Dec 10, 2008

AceTachyon said:
Is it possible to just say "They made a fire" and go from there?

Not to be snarky or anything, but is it necessary to the story how they make the fire?

I could be completely off-base here, y'unnerstan...

Ace brings up a good point. As Uncle Jim says, every word should advance the plot, reveal character, or support the theme of the novel. Will how they build the fire do one of those three things? If not, it's just filler.

MattW · Dec 10, 2008

Don said:
Ace brings up a good point. As Uncle Jim says, every word should advance the plot, reveal character, or support the theme of the novel. Will how they build the fire do one of those three things? If not, it's just filler.

I'd agree with Don and Ace - if your fire making method only sets the tech level of the world, it might not be important enough.

If it's a unique method that becomes more useful to the plot later on, then I'd include it.

dclary · Dec 10, 2008

That's actually why, in my current wip, they use magic to start a fire. It establishes that there is magic, and at the same time...

ah crap, I'm stealing from Paolini.

Stunted · Dec 10, 2008

I think that people who were around the house all the time raising kids just always made sure that the fire didn't go out. And in cities and towns, I think you'd borrow fire from someone if you really needed it. (I may be making it all up, but it sounds plausible, doesn't it?)

Higgins · Dec 11, 2008

MattW said:
Firebow?

Keep coals from previous fires?

Magnifying glass?

Google?

Firebow is sure-fire. And coals work fine.

Evaine · Dec 11, 2008

In Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome, he spends a bit of time describing how the children set up camp on the island on the lake - including building and lighting the fire. This was used to show the different characters of the children, as much as anything else - Roger, the youngest, is sent off to gather firewood and comes back with about half a dozen twigs, which he thinks will last the whole evening - the older children send him off with a flea in his ear to get lots more.

Smiling Ted · Dec 11, 2008

AceTachyon said:
Is it possible to just say "They made a fire" and go from there?

Not to be snarky or anything, but is it necessary to the story how they make the fire?

I could be completely off-base here, y'unnerstan...

It might not be necessary for the reader to know, but the writer should.

SPMiller · Dec 11, 2008

And it is a tiny detail you can throw in just in passing.

.. .Blah blah blah. Marty took his flint-and-tinder from his travel sack and struck a fire. Blah blah blah ...

Making Fire!

Shadowlit

jvc

Fearsome Dragon Mod

MattW

Company Man

SPMiller

Prodigiously Hanged

Polenth

Mushroom

Shaun M

Shadowlit

Shadowlit

Shaun M

maxmordon

Penúltimo

Smiling Ted

Ah-HA!

TrickyFiction

Who?

SPMiller

Prodigiously Hanged

AceTachyon

Odd person

Don

All Living is Local

MattW

Company Man

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

Stunted

Ich heiße Superphantastisch!

Higgins

Evaine

Smiling Ted

Ah-HA!

SPMiller

Prodigiously Hanged