08 of the eight
Stewardship
What is left for the people who come after — a place, a craft, a name?
What it is
The old word was posterity: land kept, a trade taught, a town not stripped. Not everyone kept it. A story with no future tense is already poor.
A high mark
Someone keeps a thing they will not live long enough to finish enjoying.
A thin mark
The story ends in the self. Nothing is owed to the people who come after.
What it is not
Not only land, and not only money. A skill taught, a house kept, a name left clean: those count.
What to look for
- 1Look for a future tense. A child, a field, a trade, a name.
- 2Someone refuses to strip a place for a short gain, or nobody even thinks to.
- 3Something is handed on. If the story only uses things up, that is the mark.
- 4The ending leaves a town kept, or it leaves the town poorer.