How to Write a Survival Guide

Choose a subject and angle for your guide. Be specific about the geography or time of year. For example, instead of writing about how to survive "a cold night," you could write about how to survive "a January night while camping in the Adirondack Mountains."

Separate your survival guide into sections, each addressing a need that your readers may have. For example, to survive in the forest for a week, you need to have shelter, food and water. Devote a section of your guide to acquiring each of these needs. Ron Kurtus at School for Champions has good advice about writing a manual: Organize the sections logically, according to what the reader will need. For example, you might want to describe how to set a fire before you talk about the process of trapping small game for food.

Illustrate your survival guide with drawings. For example, when describing how to build a campfire, it might help to have a drawing that depicts that information. Even if you aren't an artist, drawing sketches just takes a little practice.

Include checklists or other kinds of quick guides that sums up what your larger sections tell readers. They can read the entire section on how to build a lean-to, for example. Then, when they are at their campsite, they can refresh their memory with the quick guide that you've included.

Verify that the tips in your survival guide are accurate. The last thing you want is for your readers to be in the wilderness with faulty instructions.