Where...where's the plot bunny?!

 

(me doing my version of hunting...not very well)

Shhh…be vewy vewy quiet, I’m trying to write. 

Have you ever come to a point in your manuscript where you thought you were going to reach the end, but you find out the tunnel veers a different direction? You keep digging and digging, but you can’t find a plot bunny for nothing! 

I’ve been there. Sheesh have I been there. 

Wait…we’re talking about how do you corral plot bunnies? That means you have too many of them, that you have to pick and choose which plot bunnies to keep and cuddle! And if you don't know, a plot bunny is a sudden, wonderful, story idea…that may or may not be related to what you’re currently working on.

I guess that means I find two different kinds: plot bunnies that take my current work in progress (WIP) in a new direction and plot jackalopes that are completely new ideas not related to anything I’ve written before. 

And now I wish I had some statistics on plot vs. jackalope bunnies! Looking back, I’d say I’ve caught way more jackalopes. Currently, I have roughly a dozen documents of new book beginnings on my laptop. I'm not sure about the number on my external hard drive. 

When those plot jacks bound on in I have to write out the scenes they bring, I have to. They’re intriguing and shiny, who can resist intriguing and shiny?! And once I have the scene at least sketched out they can sit and rest. The reality is because these undoubtedly show up when I’m in the middle of a project I need to finish, but also because I like to let the new ideas percolate and see if they stick around…meaning, does it stay sparkly and continue to draw me back to imagining what happens next, or do they hop away and drift into the out-of-mind zone.

Now, plot bunnies…the I-need-a-new-story-direction ones. I sure could use more of those. I’m a scientist, I follow the procedures. Beginning. Middle. End. And if I’m stuck in a tunnel that failed to stay straight I get a bit bogged down in the muck. Plot bunnies…plot bunnies…I'd be alright upping that side of my statistics.

WHERE DO YOU FIND YOUR PLOT BUNNIES and can I have some?