Um... hi again! Sorry about yesterday seems I had a med reaction to the new med. Needless to say I'm back, although not quite together. I'd like to bring to you an essay by Dark today. Hope you enjoy it.

What is a plot bunny? Some say that plot bunnies are the spawn of reluctant muses; they are sent out to distract writers from their rightful path. Blame the muse or blame the author? It has been said that plot bunnies are to writers what senioritis is to high school students. That amazing chapter outline or a partially-completed draft is generally not as enticing as a new idea -- and lo! The plot bunny is born.

There is nothing like working on something mindless like washing dishes, taking a shower, mowing the lawn, etc. for encouraging plot bunnies. They sneak in on the edges of sleep and insinuate themselves into random thoughts. A line from a movie, a snapshot posted on Facebook, an emailed joke, or that one snippet of song that got stuck in your head -- these are the birthplaces of plot bunnies.

wikiwrimo.org reminds us of the John Steinbeck quote: “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”
This begs the question, then, of how you handle something that can run faster than you can think and with less substance than a rainbow. Should you, in fact, even try to harness the power of the plot bunny? Many are they who encourage the snaring of these beasts, for they are a menace; these become writing prompts for other people, there to terrorize the unsuspecting.

Another train of thought says that plot bunnies are the bane of writer’s block and as such become the brain food of muses. Stuck on a plot point? Then feed your muse a plot bunny! That should be a bumper sticker for writers.

Whether stamping out these unwanted trespassers from perfectly choreographed writing time or luring them in with skittles and coco puffs, writers must manage these plot bunnies or subsist amongst the cluttered, ill-tended wasteland of a lifetime of half-finished story ideas.

From Ilea For: “In order to capture a plot bunny, one must first be able to identify plot bunnies. Simply looking for a creature which appears bunnyish will only work in some instances. Much like the sweet potato, a plot bunny is a rabbit in name only.”

There is an infinite variety of plot bunnies, so determining which plot bunny you’re dealing with can be a challenge.

The first rule of plot bunnies is to pay attention! Though they are distractions, plot bunnies also answer the dreaded question, “How did you come up with this?” Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take ten minutes and jot down the bare bones of the plot idea on whatever you have immediately available. This can later evolve into an outline or even the next best-seller. Remember, plot bunnies inevitably fade away … eventually. By writing them down, good plot bunnies can be revived at a later date. Or they become zombie bunnies. Whichever.

What is known for certain is that plot bunnies don’t stay small and cute and loveable and inspirational forever. Often, plot bunnies devolve into the same drawn-out piece you were working on before. The trick, when working on one story at a time, is to keep all the plot bunnies that apply to your current work and discard the rest. Learning how to focus on what you’re doing is a hurdle all good writers must overcome.

If you want to get rid of your plot bunny, one of the most effective tactics is to sic that plot bunny on somebody else. This can be done by posting your idea on any number of plot bunny adoption sites. Or, if you’d rather the more direct approach, chat up your favorite victim online and tell them all about your bunny. Plot bunnies take a little more coaxing, but like that song stuck in your head, they’re eager to latch onto the next person to come along. This option also has its drawbacks, in that you may decide (after explaining the idea to someone else) that you rather like this particular plot bunny and you want to give it more life yourself because no one else could possibly do it justice. And you must be careful with plot bunny discussions lest your plot bunny realize its mortality; because in cases like this, if you do end up taking it back, the plot bunny is unlikely to fully cooperate without some significant bribery.

Last of these particular insights is an introvert’s ideal: think about and visualize your plot bunny. Without setting fingers on a keyboard or picking up a pencil, close your eyes and imagine what your plot bunny might be like as a novel in your favorite bookstore or a movie starring your favorite actor. Remember to ask all the ‘what if...?’ questions. Explore the idea in as much detail as you can, but spend no more than 24 hours mulling it over. Once you’ve decided to keep or discard your plot bunny, do it ASAP.

At this point, Susan from The Prosers recommends going into your weapons arsenal and pulling out a holy hand grenade because:

“… bunnies have a dark side. If I give in and pick one up and stare into those limpid eyes, that wascally wabbit mutates. What seemed like such a perfect, bouncy idea begins to contort. My plot grows fangs. And claws. It misbehaves. I know what kind of story the plot bunny should turn into, but it doesn’t cooperate.”

Like a good writing prompt, a good plot bunny can become a grand story. One of the reasons a plot bunny is so tempting is because plot bunnies make writing exciting. When you’re slogging through a scene that even you find boring, a plot bunny can remind you why you ever decided to set pen to paper or click away on a keyboard for the nameless masses. You never know what a plot bunny is going to do or where it will lead. Writing when you’re excited about the subject/idea is easy; trying to write something you care nothing about leads only to writer’s block. Alternatively, plot bunnies are like iPhones; you love what you already have until the next one comes along.

One caution: you have to be careful when deciding to give a plot bunny a home because they are sneaky bastards, always inviting their buddies. The shiny, new plot bunnies are very often an entirely new breed of bunny and pretty soon, if you’re not careful, you’ll be inundated with bunnies, whereupon drama and backstabbing ensues. Only the strongest and sneakiest survive, and bunnies, being the evil masterminds that they are, know all your secret triggers to draw attention to themselves.

Each writer sees different varieties of plot bunnies. Wikiwrimo.org has published one of the most extensive lists of different breeds, among them the Luuuuuuuuv Bunny, a bunny who makes random characters fall in love, the WTF Bunny, a bunny of outlandish story plots, and the Two Things at Once Bunny, who always appears when writers are least able to write their thoughts down.

Whichever breeds your bunnies arrive in, the most dangerous of all are the mutant bunnies. These are plot bunnies on crack. When they first appear, mutant bunnies seem like just another harmless plot bunny, but over time, they slowly evolve into a different breed that is more potent than the ordinary bunny. The only cure for a mutant plot bunny is a plot ninja. Plot ninjas are commonly found in NaNoWriMo write-ins and are not to be confused with plot bunnies.
Nevertheless, write, write, write! Or the plot bunnies will get you.

Happy Reading, Writing, and of course Reviewing!