This is the third of six blogs on story farming. In this one, The Backyard Garden (anthologies and/or novella-length pieces) is the topic.
Herbaceous plants are most common as seasonal color and are heavily represented in color pots and hanging containers. They have a short life—usually one or two years. Their purpose is to project a specific feel in a very defined space. They never get very tall because their stems cannot add additional “wood” to their stems as they grow. Think petunias and green beans.
Woody stems are associated with perennial plants—those that live over two years. These plants do have wood-producing cells in their interiors and are capable, in some species, of growing to considerable height and circumference. Think rose bushes and oak trees.
Herbaceous plants are the short stories of the botanical world. Not from the life span, but because they are limited in size. As a writer of short stories, you learn to “stop when the story is done.” Overwriting in a short story causes the entire plant/story to suffer and ultimately collapse under its own weight.
Some plants present an illusion of herbaceousness. Bonsai specimens are woody plants that have been carefully and judiciously pruned over an extended time to present a miniature version of the plant. This type of short story is ripe for converting into a full-sized version of itself—expanding a short story into a longer piece.
Traveler’s HOT L – The Time Traveler’s Resort is filled with examples of short stories, all around or significantly less than 5000 words long, that were bonsai versions of longer stories. Combining the increased length with a common theme, in HOT L it's time travel, provides a perfect storm of stories in the anthology.
WARNING!
Not all short stories are bonsai. The vast majority of short stories are herbaceous plants. If you try to expand a short story that lacks the woody tissue needed to support the added verbiage, your story will never be what you want it to be, or even what it was before you bloated it.
When you finish writing a short story, put it aside. Ask two or three people to be beta readers of the story. Carefully consider the feedback from the beta readers. If there are any commonalities like “you jumped from A to B without explanation, or “where did character X come from,” or “what happened to character X,” suggests you might need to expand the length of the story.
Try this.
Think of a story idea for a short story.
Write an outline or a plotline.
Write a short story no longer than 500 words
You'll find it's easier to write long than short!
This post does not discuss novellas. More on that next week.
SEO: writing, short story, plot
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