Vanessa Kinzey

Neil Gaiman is full of unexpected wisdom on how to capture ideas and use them in stories. Sometimes I feel that he is an ancient wizard sharing bits of magic that I only partially understand, and when I ask for clarification he shoos me away saying, “It’s better this way. Discover it for yourself!” So, I stir my pot, and drop some words in, and I follow the instructions until I realize that he is right – the magic is in the doing. Understanding comes with practice and it truly is better this way.

One such unexpected half-spell shared by Gaiman in his Masterclass on Storytelling is to keep a compost heap. For the non-gardeners out there, a compost heap is a place where you create soil. You collect food scraps, leaves, trimmings from the garden and other biodegradable wondries in a heap, adding to it and stirring it every now and then and, eventually, it all breaks down into the most glorious soil for planting.

But the question remains: How does this help with writing?

Gaiman suggests keeping a journal, a notebook, or some sort of document to keep track of all the ideas that are floating around in your head. Not only stories, but the things about the world that are grabbing your attention; the observations you’re making, the bits and pieces of life that go into a story.

So, whether you’re fascinated by the murmuration of starlings, or have come up with a wonderful name for a character that you haven’t yet written, a Compost Heap is a place to store it, until it becomes the fertile soil for a new story.

I’m reluctant to admit that I did not want to do this task. I have a terrible time keeping track of ideas, and my office is littered with notebooks and journals. The mere thought of picking up a new journal to jot down ideas seemed like creating a new place to lose things. Additionally, there may have been an inkling that I would somehow do this the “wrong” way. My fear sent me on a small journey around the internet, and while I found a few tips about keeping a literary compost heap, it seemed that it was actually up to me to decide how best to do this for myself. I considered a fresh Moleskine cahier, the Google Keep app on my phone, and finally landed on Pinterest.  It’s a visual platform, which is valuable to me, but more importantly it’s searchable, and easy to organize.

As I’ve begun the practice of tending to my Compost Heap, I’ve found myself collecting a various assortment of musings, topics, and ideas that may have otherwise disappeared into the nether. I love the intention that all of these tidbits may end up in a story someday. Or that I’ve preserved something that wasn’t useful today, but may be tomorrow. I’ve also observed that it’s a mental relief to have a designated place to put all these notions. Every time I think a new think, my Compost Heap is only as far away as my phone (or my computer!)

Although my Compost Heap is still in its infancy, I must admit that it’s fun (already) to scan through it and see what I’ve collected so far. It’s sobering to realize just how easy it is to forget what you were curious about last week or last month. These fleeting thoughts that seem so innocuous, so unworthy, may, in fact, be important after all. “It’s the little things,” we say. And it’s true.

There’s a kind of hopefulness in knowing that the Compost Heap is there, maturing and waiting, to help you plant a garden when the season arrives.