 |
| Sure, it looks cute, but can you trust it? Bunny by Sharon Montrose |
Devious little creatures, Plot Bunnies. They sneak up on you and pounce like a tiger while doing edits. They attack with ferocity, eliciting excitement with a quick adrenaline rush. “This is an awesome idea!” you think. You’re still working on getting one book done and ready for queries, but this Bunny refuses to let go. There’s so much potential for this story to be the most amazing awesomesauce you’ve ever written. And maybe it will be, but what do you do about it?
There’s always those who can work on a gazillion projects at once. Then, there are the rest of us, who can work only on one or two, and if those spots are filled up, the Plot Bunnies create a problem that must be dealt with.
I had this problem while working on my first book, The Gifted. NaNoWriMo was coming up and I wasn’t near enough finished with it as I wanted to be able to start on a sequel. The Plot Bunnies showed up in force though, and I decided to take one of those and work with it as my NaNo book. I’m lucky enough that working on two things at once wasn’t difficult as long as I didn’t work on them both in one day. The only problem I had was the numerous Bunnies that kept attacking.
I decided that the only way to appease these obnoxious and stubborn fluffy things was to take them seriously. And I still do to this day. Almost a year later, and I have a notebook filled with hundreds of single lines, paragraphs, or character ideas. I’ve found that as long as you acknowledge them by writing the idea down, you can move past the hopping excitement and finish your other projects.
Not only does this help funnel your Plot Bunnies into a manageable medium, it helps you sort out the ideas that can be built upon. I put a star next to the ones that I think have potential for development and I draw arrows to different ones that can play off one another. So, while they may be annoying, as long as you give them just enough of your attention, you can put them behind you and get your WIP ready for querying.
How do you deal with Plot Bunnies?
Kathleen is a writer of YA Paranormal Romance and Fantasy. She lives with her husband, two kids, and a cat in Southern Indiana where she spends her days watching bad sci-fi movies and reading all the books. Her writing began with poetry when she was 12 years old. As she got older, she became interested in writing stories and books. She majored in Theatre in college and loves delving into the psyche of of others, figuring out what makes people tick. When she’s not reading a book, playing with her kids, or pulling her cat out of a tree you can find her on Twitter, Facebook, or her blog.
Those pesky bunnies. Most of my best ideas come to me in dreams and I often wake up and tap out a bit of what I remember on my phone. Then in the AM I send it via dropbox to my computer to put in an idea folder dubbed the BunnyFarm. It's always great to have tons of ideas to turn to when you get stuck in your WIP. Sometimes the answer you needed to get past that block was right there in your ideas all along. Great post, Kathleen!
ReplyDeleteBunnyFarm! I love it!
DeleteI write them in my notebooks too. I try not think too hard about the new idea, but sometimes they take hold and can't be ignored. I haven't tried writing more than one at a time. But several times I've finished one up and jumped right into the next. So I have many stories just sitting there waiting for attention.
ReplyDeleteThat's the way to do it, finish up with one and then start another. And the great thing about it is, if those Bunnies ever go on vacation, you have stuff ready to edit and revise!
DeleteGreat point. If you write them down, you can move on and go back to them.
ReplyDeleteExactly=) Thanks for stopping by, Kelly!
DeleteI have a folder that is called story ideas. When I get a great idea, or in some cases the great opening scene of a story, I write them down, give them a working title and let the idea marinate in a safe place (my brain isn't :)). One is sitting over there just waiting for it's turn for NaNoWriMo right now.
ReplyDeletelol! My brain isn't a safe place either! I have one sitting and ready for NaNo as well, though I don't know if I'll officially participate or not.
DeleteI like your thoughts on how to manage the Bunnies.
ReplyDeleteThanks=)
DeleteYep, write it out. I keep a folder on my thumb drive for these pesky ideas. Some of them are fleshed out and other are a single line. I write until I feel like I can leave the idea alone. I also use a physical notebook for all my active projects. That way, if an idea for that particular WIP hits me, I can jot it down in the notebook and be confident I won't lose it. Once I'm done drafting, I go back and see if any of those ideas hold water. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea, having a notebook for your WIP. I do that too=)
DeleteSometimes I turn them into short stories so that my mind can stop obsessing over them and sometimes those short stories become novels.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good way to get started on a novel!
Delete