I spoke to my son’s school recently about writing and the thing that excited the kids most was when I talked about plot bunnies. True, the photos of cute bunnies helped. A lot. Because who doesn’t like bunnies?
Here is what I told them:
Sometimes writers call ideas Plot Bunnies. It’s how we refer to those thoughts that hop through our head that have potential to become stories. The trick with bunnies is to keep track of them when the hop on by. You have to watch them too because they have a tendency to multiply. They crave attention and love to distract us from stories we’re already working on, but we can’t fall prey to that trap. We need to trap them first.
The best way to cage your plot bunnies is to start an idea book. This is a journal you write ideas in. It is anything you use to capture your ideas, whether they are about a specific story or just random ideas you have.
Capture all those plot bunnies no matter what, because if you don’t write them down, they will hop away. You may remember the big idea, but you will forget the details and stories are found in the details, so write down any ideas you get. Sketch pictures if it will help.
Nearly every writer I know has at least one idea notebook. I have several. One for each novel and one for random ideas. I also keep files on my computers—both my laptop and the iMac in my office. I never go anywhere without pen and paper. I use Siri when I’m driving. I’ve even been known to write ideas on the shower wall with a grease pencil and transfer it to a notebook later. No bunnies are escaping on my watch.
For some reason, I get a lot of ideas in the shower and when I’m driving. I also get a lot of ideas just before I drop off to sleep. When that happens, I force myself to get out of bed and write them down. I used to keep a notebook by my bed, but I could never read my writing in the morning or when I could, I couldn’t make sense of the story idea. Sleep interfered and garbled the information.
To this day, I have the opening scene of a story that I love, but I have no idea what I was trying to write. I remember the people, but not the circumstance. My notes weren’t flushed out enough. It is a lost story and I feel the loss. It flickers on the edge of my memory enough to taunt me, but not enough to provide context.
Ever since writing that scene, I drag myself out of bed and use my computer to wake me up. I also do not talk to anyone until that idea is down on paper (or saved to a file) because talking gets between my memory of the idea and capturing it completely. And, forgive me, but I want to catch the whole bunny, not just the tail. Luckily, my family is understanding and respects the raised hand as I rush to my office.
Capturing bunnies is part of paying attention.
Without attention, ideas will wither. Bunnies will escape. So keep an eye out for them and then capture them on the page. That’s your cage to keep them safe.
But a plot bunny by itself is not a story. It’s just the first step. Once you catch them, you have to feed them to get them to grow. But that is another party of the process and another blog.