This is the second blog on story farming. This one describes the required components for a healthy plot harvest. Future posts describe farming methods.
- Container (short stories)
- Backyard (anthologies and/or novella-length pieces)
- The South 40 (the novel)
- Mega Farming (the book series).
The last blog is a pro/con commentary on each method with advice on when it’s appropriate to use ideas from each in a type of farming for effective cross-pollination.
Because you want a good crop/plot, we start with basic needs.
Soil.
While it is possible to produce sizable crops with hydroponics, most plants are grown in soil.
- Dirt is not soil.
- Soil contains an abundance of organic and inorganic materials that help nourish the plant and keep the roots anchored.
In your plot garden, the soil is your experience as a reader and writer.
In the same way that plants grow best in rich soil, without a good grasp of what it takes to make a good story, you’re pretty much doomed as a writer.
Seed.
A mature seed contains an embryo plant that’s waiting for the right conditions to grow into a plant.
- Unless the mature idea for your story is present in your plot-seed when you start writing, you’ll find that growing a story is impossible.
At the minimum, have a basic outline in writing when you begin.
“The Law."
All plants require Light, Air, and Water (LAW) to grow.
- Take away any of these three requirements, you break the law, and your plant dies.
- Plots also die when requirements aren’t met.
You need
- believable characters,
- reasonable plot points,
- realistic dialog
to keep your plot-plant alive.
Cultivation/weeding/pruning.
Gardeners and farmers know that
- keeping the soil loose,
- removing weeds, and, if the plant requires it,
- judicious removal of shots/limbs that are dying, dead, or growing in the wrong direction
are mandatory actions to an abundant harvest.
You must cultivate the plants in your plot gardens.
- Keep your mind’s soil loose and open to new and alternate ideas.
- Be willing to admit that some of what you’ve written is more weed than crop and remove those post-haste.
Some of the verbiage you write is good, but not in the story you’re writing—that’s where pruning comes in.
Cutting good stuff to keep your plot growing (MOVING FORWARD) is essential.
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