Beware The Plot Bunnies

Bunnicus Plotticus: Don’t let the cute fool you!

It’s so cute isn’t it?  All long ears and soft, soft fur.  You just wanna pick it up and love it and hug it and make it your own, right?

DON’T TOUCH IT!

That’s its lure!  They’re evil, EVIL I tell you!

Plot bunnies!

Beware.  These deceptively adorable creatures can mean death and disease for your current WIP (or at the very least a long stay in convalescence).  They stare at you with their little eyes, and twitch their cute little noses, begging you to touch them, to pet them.

Then they sink their claws in.  That’s right.  These bunnies have claws, and they will infect you with Sexy Next Book Syndrome.  Oh, you know the signs.  The fever.  The waking up in the middle of the night with characters and places and scenes from Sexy Next Book taking over your brain!

Meanwhile, your current WIP is going “But…but…”

And you can’t even HEAR IT.

The truly skilled are capable of handling the plot bunnies.  Of giving them just the minimum amount of attention so that the idea is not lost and their current WIP is not derailed.

I’m currently being stalked, y’all.  I had to send out this PSA and SOS because I made the mistake of believing I was one of the skilled, one of those who could wrangle.  I touched the plot bunny and it’s set up shop.

I’m trying to get free, plotting my escape…had to send out this message while it’s looking the other way.

Crap.  Crap!  It’s LOOKING AT ME.  I have to go!

Send a search party!  Send a rescue squad! Send–

[End transmission.]

21 thoughts on “Beware The Plot Bunnies

  1. SOMEONE QUICK, SAVE HER!

    Here’s what I would do, if I were you. I’d give the plot bunny the weekend. It’s Thursday now, that’s four solid days of planning, worldbuilding, what have you. Sunday night, you put that bunny in a frickin cage and get back to your full grown plot puppy. It’s crying, Kait, can’t you hear it?

    1. In fact I actually have quite a bit of reading to do for puppy, so I’m considering doing exactly as you suggest and letting myself play with plot bunny while I’m reading for puppy.

  2. I can’t help you. I’m so deep in a plot bunny warren that there’s no hope. I’ve given up to their cuteness and now I spend my morning pages on the shiny new idea and my evenings editing the other story, which keeps looking at me with forlorn why-have-you-forsaken-me puppy eyes.

  3. Sorry I can’t help, but I’m busy kicking a new plot bunny into the corner where it belongs. At least it isn’t fuzzy and cute, so I don’t have to feel guilty about it. If it cooperates and leaves me alone for a while, it might get its chance during NaNo. Otherwise . . . Back to the end of the line, you!

  4. Oh man, total nerd moment! The first thing that popped into my mind while reading this was Anya’s (BtvS) fear of bunnies, and her song lyric to that effect in the musical episode: “Bunnies aren’t just cute like everybody supposes. They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses, and what’s with all the carrots? What do they need such good eyesight for anyway? Bunnies. bunnies, it must be bunnies!”

  5. I play with the plot bunnies while I’m doing chores or showering or driving (or working – you know, times when I can’t actually do any writing). We cuddle and hop around the grass together, and I’ll feed it a few stickies so it won’t bite me. But when it’s time to write the bunny gets locked outside where it belongs. Writing is a no bunny zone!

    Real bunnies are not to be messed with either. They have sharp claws and can do some damage! And those teeth! Yikes.

  6. Great post! Never had a name for it before, I just chalked it up to ADD or something. I’ve been struggling with this for months, trying to edit my first complete novel but # 2 keeps coming up and making me all gushy and excited – awwww, look!, What cool monsters, now why didn’t I think of those for book 1? I think the plot bunny comes with a familiar, too – an obnoxious seagull who flaps around squawking, “You’ll forget!” if you don’t give the bunny his due attention.

    I need some rocks.

  7. I tend to settle down with my plot bunny and write a quick outline and a single chapter. Then I threaten to boil it like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction if it doesn’t behave and let me go back to my current WIP. It mostly nestles under my desk and stays quiet until I’m ready. Now and then, one nibbles at my feet, but I can largely ignore that.

    You are not alone, friend. Stay strong. Anya was right: The bunny is dangerous.

  8. Ah ha! That’s why my cat is obsessed with his toy Zombie Bunny: he’s trying to kill them off so HE can be the only one who distracts me…. (He does a pretty good job, but there are WAY more plot bunnies out there than he can handle.)

  9. Once an idea pops into my head I have to get it onto paper before it will leave me alone. I have a folder full of plot bunnies just a page for each idea, just enough to bring the plot bunny back into focus if I want to work on it, then I can go back to my WIP

    1. I usually start a blueprint (see downloads) for each. And I’ll add stuff to it after that initial spewage…so consequently I think I have about 7 fully plotted plot bunnies waiting for their turn in the pipe.

  10. I didn’t know how conniving they really were till I was doing Fast Draft. But you’re right, they wake you up at night. LOL. I was good. Didn’t adopt any new pets.

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