When you builds a fire, you will need to have plenty of heat built up inside your fireplace that way all the wood can ignite. If you only have just a few chunks of really big piecesof wood, it is not really going to trap that heat inside the fireplace. You also don't want to put a lot of small pieces really tightly together or even a couple of big pieces that are so tight together that they can't get oxygen. You don't want to put a huge piece of wood in initially either, you can save that for later after you have gotten your fire going. So you will want to start with some smaller pieces in the back. Remember not to stack the wood so tightly that it can't get oxygen if there is no oxygen there is no fire. You should place the wood in the fireplace Instead of mashing down real tight.. It is a little better if you stagger it so that it has little pockets that air can get into. Then you will want to make sure you have a piece of wood on top that will help lock in the heat and allow the wood to get hot enough to really take off and burn very well.