every fire i make lights easily and burns long and well. here's what i do:
-get a hellava lot of wood and tinder

-get a piece of paper and cover it in a hellava lot of tinder. there is no such thing as too much tinder.
-pile on more tinder
-put on a hellava lot of sticks but leave an entrance for the match
-pile on a hellava lot more sticks
-put on a hellava lot of big sticks to make it look like a pyramid
-put on a hellava lot more big stick until you can't fit any more
-stuff a hellava lot of small sticks and tinder into all the cracks, there's no way to smother a fire with wood. keep stuffing it.
-put on a hellava lot more sticks and big sticks and tinder and make it as dense and full of tinder and big sticks as you can
-light it and get burnt because you were standing inside the 5 mile radius of burnination
i've done it this way for about 6 years and it works every time
Jam it back in, in the dark.