This Probably Only Interests Me: Episode One

Writing, especially writing across different genres, affords a man many opportunities to amass at least rudimentary knowledge of many things. If I'm going to drop a character into a forest (the salient example today) and make him travel a hundred miles through that forest... well, it doesn't take too intimate knowledge of forests to make that work, because it's not a major point of description. Again, I don't feel it necessary to hold your hand with two pages of description of what this forest looks like. It looks like a forest. Whatever you think a forest looks like, that will do.

Anyway, this is just an example; the point is, in many points in writing, an author has to do a little research so he won't embarrass himself. Beyond that, you have to stop and think about it. There are unpleasant aspects to being out in the woods without camping supplies or a map. (The character in question has a four day supply of food, some canteens of water, and a blanket.) If you're accustomed to a toilet... well, that's going to be a hygiene shock to you. And you'd learn right quick to identify and avoid thorns in the many, many places you'd find them, if you're in a northern deciduous type of forest that's teeming with the buggers (as this character is).

Different characters would react to this in different ways, too. One character may be terrified of the night sounds and the critters; another may be a skilled hunter/tracker/camper/etc. that has no problem; a third might be otherwise smart and resourceful, but doesn't really have an idea how to survive in the wild, even for a few days. And the extent to which a character would be miserable out there will vary. You could write who knows how many different stories from a starting point of '[Character] finds him/herself separated from his/her party and stuck deep in unfamiliar woods...', depending on which character you fill in.