Refrigerator Stew

Did you know that writing is like making Refrigerator Stew?

Well kind of...  sort of...

I realize that in our fast paced, throw away society, some may not get the concept of Refrigerator Stew. So maybe we should discuss making Refrigerator Stew First

Which is quite simple really...

Go to your refrigerator and pull out all your leftovers.

Toss out any that resemble a green science project gone wild... (moldy)

Now pick through the rest and choose those items which might lend themselves to a stew. Meats, noodles, beans, vegetables (NOT Lettuce). Old bread is not a good item unless your making french onion soup or bread pudding or something, but you can use the bread in other ways. Like making croutons for the salad you're not tossing in the pot.

Take those lovely food prospects and toss them into a big black cauldron... I mean a pot.

That's right... mix all those leftover components together. You may have to add a bit of broth and seasoning. Then let it warm and perhaps boil and voila, you now have Refrigerator Stew.

If you prefer to have a ghoulash  (error intended)  don't add as much broth and mix your items into a baking dish, layer over with some cheese and bake your concoction instead.

It sounds like you're concocting some strange brew... but before you say ewww, give it go.

*** Historical info tidbit... in the olden days, their form of refrigerator stew was called seven day stew or week stew, they would leave the pot boiling and add to the mixture daily. I suppose after the concoction crusted the pot enough it was time to start a new batch.

Now onto Refrigerator Stew vs Writing

When a writer puts a story together, they are in a sense concocting their own form of stew, only the ingredients aren't kept in a real refrigerator, they are locked in the writer's imagination--erator.

When the writer starts a story they look through that imagination information and begin to add portions of what they find together. Some of those ideas having been setting on the imagination shelf for some time and need to be tossed, or filed away for a horror story.

But the writer begins to draw from that shelf and begins to form a story.

A touch of a heroine here, a bit of a hero there, a dash of imagery, a cup of conflict, a pinch of motivation they toss it all into the Plot. Mixing it together with patience and purpose. Then they add some research and narrative and dialogue, check their POV's and RUE. They continue tossing in this idea and taking out  another, adding more to the mix. Then they stir it all together  and find they have a story.

They let it simmer for a time, read it and edit out some more or add some more flavor, before they send it off into the world, hoping an editor might find their mix as enjoyable as they do.

When was the last time you made Refrigerator Stew?