Things to Keep in mind when Writing Deciduous Forest Scenes.
Let me take this opportunity to remind all fic writers about deciduous forest environments. Of course, this is just for practical purposes, fiction is fiction, you don’t have to adhere to this. But it’s just something to keep in mind, for accuracy. Also, thank you @elvish-sky for checking this over!
1) trees create echoes. I once lived on a 42 acre woodland, and it went straight back, very far away. There was a small airport that was near where our property ended, and once i could hear a concert all the way from my house. Sound carries FAR. So if you have any number of characters seeking a private conversation, or having a yelling match, and have them go off into the forest, simply going farther away won’t really help with privacy much. Unless they are talking rly softly, or there’s other noise that will drown them out (ex, a river or stream, people farther away are talking loudly, construction work… you get the picture.)
2) When characters go off into the forest at night without a source of light. Movies portray this pretty unrealistically, since the audience needs to see the characters, so lighting is used, but it’s dark af. Even walking 10 feet away from the fire, i can hardly see a thing. If moonlight is out, that won’t help much in forest settings, because tree branches grow thick leaves, and moonlight is much weaker than sunlight. It’s still going to be dark.
3) Undergrowth. There’s crunchy leaves EVERYWHERE. Random patches of thorn bushes, vines that will cause you to trip if you aren’t careful, fallen trees that you have to climb over, mud spots near water that WILL cause you to loose a shoe if you aren’t careful. If a forest you’re writing for is truly wild and untouched by man (no paths, nothings been cleared out basically), your characters are going to have a tricky time navigating that.
4) Streams, especially during scenes where characters stop to bathe. Streams in forests are usually pretty shallow most of the time, especially in summer. Seriously, only a few inches deep. Of course, there’s area’s where the water level suddenly becomes 6 ft. deep, because of a dip in the stream bed. These little spots are ideal for submerging underwater, and usually, there’ll be little fishies keeping you company. Also, if there’s been a few days of rain, that water level is going to RISE, and the stream is going to grow and become faster, for at most a week after the rains. Best time for taking a bath in the wild.