A Stub By Any Other Name

Here on this blog, we like to sing the praises of the components of our writing process. One that’s particularly helpful to us, and thus gets a lot of mention, is stubs. Which means we get to say “stub” a lot. “Stub stub, stubby-stub stubs. Stubbed stubbing stub stub. Stub.” It’s concise and descriptive, but it’s really not a very pretty word.

Maybe we should do a little rebranding. If it had a sexier name, maybe we’d get invited do guest lectures. Let’s see… if prose is the flower, that makes this a bud. Hmm. “Bud bud buddy-bud” isn’t much of an improvement. Perhaps it could be a scene seed? Or a sceneling? Perhaps not, on both counts. Well, a good stub has a lot in common with a good recipe. Should we call it a prose recipe? We probably should not.

Maybe there’s a way to make the existing name seem hip. What if it was a clever acronym? Technically a backronym, but we don’t need to dwell on that.

S.T.U.B. = Story Template Unit Block
S.T.U.B. = Short Tactical Utility Belt
StUB = (St)ory Unfinished Bit
STuB = Synopsized (Tu)lip Bulb
S.T.U.B. = Synthetic Text in an Unlit Basement

What is becoming increasingly clear is why we focus on the writing, and seek help from others for the marketing.

It doesn’t really matter what they’re called — stubs are great. A good stub makes you feel prepared to write the right scene, much the way a cook can rely on a recipe. It tells you what you’re going to need and why. In a partnership scenario it’s especially valuable, the same way the recipe can assure success whoever’s turn it is to make dinner. (All joking aside, stubs really could be rebranded as “prose recipes.” We just aren’t going to be the ones to do that.)