 Mystery: October 24, 2018 Issue [#9190] |
This week: Lost! Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: "All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost."
~J. R. R. Tolkien
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As a child, did you ever get lost in the woods, a store, or some other unfamiliar place? The only experience more frightening than being lost as a child is having one of your own children get lost. My son was once lost in a large store for about ten minutes, but it was the longest ten minutes of my life.
Lost characters or items are great subjects for mystery stories, because we have all experienced hunting for someone or something that is lost. Searches for lost pets or items make good subjects for mystery stories for kids.
In spite of modern technology, it is still possible to get lost in the modern world. Cell phones, GPS, and mapping applications often lose the signal and do not work in remote areas where people are most likely to get lost. Also, mapping applications are only as good as the data that is entered in to them. Even areas in large cities are often shown inaccurately in GPS navigation systems if a road or a business place is new.
Roads in wilderness areas are often not well marked and may not show up on maps. Maps of US Forest Service land, for example, are often decades old and are notoriously inaccurate.
If your characters are lost in a real place, consult maps and descriptions of the actual area in planning your story. That way, you are less likely to have your characters do something unrealistic, such as walk between two points faster than would be possible in real life.
If your setting is a place you have created yourself, make maps or drawings of the trails, roads and landmarks. You don't need to include these in your story unless you want to, but they will help you plan the story.
People who aren't used to hiking often make mistakes that make it harder to find them if they do get lost. They might go into the wilderness without telling anyone where they are going, leave the established trail, or start out too late in the day to get back before dark. Other potentially life threatening mistakes might be going into an area with terrain that is too steep for your abilities, improper footwear or clothing, and not taking enough food or water. If your characters are experienced hikers or wilderness travelers, make sure they don't make any of these "rookie" mistakes unless there is a good reason. For example, maybe a character didn't actually intend to go in to the wilderness but might have been chased there by a villain.
Something to try: Write a mystery story in which someone, or something is lost. |
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