Lets just say, for somewhere to start, that you have been on a camping trip somewhere by a river.  Nothing of any great significance happened, you stayed for 3 days, packed up and went home.

That doesn’t seem particularly useful as a book starter does it.  Now I could do an Agatha Christie and throw in something that you couldn’t possibly have known and begin writing about that but I will resist the landing of the alien space craft.

Lets start with sitting around the campfire talking.  As you know the night sky when camping can be awe inspiring but I’ll leave that out as well.  No I want to start in the campfire itself.  I find the pattern the flames make fascinating and can watch them for hours so lets begin there.

I have read the Thomas Covenant Chronicles and remember the scene where the Giants ghosts meet Thomas in the bonfire for the cleansing and purification of their souls.  If you haven’t read the series you may well find that you don’t get a lot of work done until you have completed all 6 books.

So at this stage we have an idea about the cleansing power of fire and the patterns that flames make.

Where can we take this?  We could write about the Australian Aborigines use of fire in their purification ceremonies or the way they used fire to clear the land for new growth which brought animals into easier range for hunting.  We could write about a fire bug who starts fires for religious reasons, to cleanse the world of the evil influence of mankind.  We could write about a fireman who fights fires with an excessive ferocity, who we learn has lost family in a fire and ultimately becomes healed when he is trapped in a fire himself but escapes.

I have decided to stop here to give you a chance to comment.  I know where I want to go with this now but I think it would be useful to have some brainstorming input from you.

Have you got any ideas to share on this starter idea seed?  Put them in the comments.  If you want you can write a short story yourself and put it in the Anthology of Short Stories