Friday, April 05, 2002
OK, so I just had to rant about this one.
On Plot Bunnies, and Why They Are Evil
Some of you already know that for the past three days, I have been plagued by a particular plot bunny. Normally, this is not a blog-worthy occurrence -- I think about certain plots all the time -- but this particular idea is not your run-of-the-mill, garden variety plot bunny. Oh, no. This fluffy monstrosity is a Night of the Lepus bunny. It spawned from almost nothing, and it quickly took over. Never mind the fact that I have art projects and psychology papers and OTHER stories-in-progress that I have to think about. Never mind the fact that the entire foul little bunny not only relies on the ending of my current story, but is also based heavily on another plot bunny that hasn't even been developed AT ALL. This thing just latched onto my mind and wouldn't let go until I did something with it.
So, naturally, I did something with it. Not that I actually wanted to; not only was this bunny completely insistent upon being written, it also is something I promised myself I would never, ever write. Ever. I managed to resist it for a day or so, but it wasn't long before the nefarious plot bunny weaseled two paragraphs out of me. Then five hundred words. Then a thousand. And the thing is, I didn't even really ENJOY writing it! It just forced my hands to the keyboard and made me do it!
And now, I'm sitting here staring at the first three thousand words the evilest of plot bunnies I have ever encountered, and I realize, with some dismay, that all my effort -- first resisting it, then the fairly uncomfortable writing process -- was probably all in vain. For one, it's awful! And I've run afoul of an obvious inconsistency. Plus, the characters are refusing to cooperate. I think I can fairly well just toss it out now. I give up. The plot bunny has mauled me for nothing.
Of course, now the idea is going to stick with me forever, until some other way to resurrect the bunny manifests itself in my mind. Sigh.
| 2:01 PM |
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