Bouncing Plot Bunnies

I'm curious to know how you hope discussing 'plot bunnies' (nice term, btw) with others will help you overcome your writer's block.

If it helps you in any way, go for it.

If you haven't noticed it yet, The Sandbox forum is for brainstorming story and plot ideas. I mention it just in case, since you might get more feedback there.

-Derek

Juvela Obi said:

my high rate of plot bunny production.

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You called?

Okay, look. I know exactly what you mean (and not just because I'm a bunny either). One of the biggest reasons of my WIP moving so darn slowly is that I stare at my current manuscript and think about my other ideas.

There is no magical trick. Sorry. The only way out of it is to discipline yourself. Easier said than done, I know. But one thing that may work is the very idea that you'll possibly spend your life on developing ideas, talking about them on AW but never actually writing them. If you're darn proud of your ideas and your creative imagination too, then this is one more reason to put your bum down and write. You want them on paper, yes? With your name on them? Well, first you write one. Then the other. And the next one. And so it goes.

If, while working on your WIP, an idea for another story intrudes your thought, take a two-minute break and jot it down in a notepad you can keep next to your computer to make sure you won't forget about it, and then concentrate on your ongoing work.

Hope this helped a bit.

I'm considered ADHD, and a lot of what you're describing could be me. I also have a lot of unfinished projects, but I've completed many as well. Now this may sound shocking, but I don't see any of this as a problem. In fact, I see it as a blessing — unfortunately viewed by most people as a curse.

I can only focus my attention in short bursts, longer when I'm in edit mode. If my mind goes to something else, I don't try and fight it. I just entertain the new story idea, article I want to read, friend I want to talk to or kid screaming in my ear. When I'm done, I go back to the original work. I appreciate all the ideas that interrupt me when I'm working. I find it comforting that I have something new to start when I'm done with my current WIP.

Here are the steps I follow in my own writing discipline. They work for me. I managed to complete my first WIP in six weeks. I'll be done with my current WIP by the 10th of February. Within a five month period, I will have completed two first drafts.

Because I'm easily distracted, I really need to set goals for myself. If I don't do that, I get nothing done. For my first WIP, I set a six week deadline and stuck to it no matter what. It was very difficult as getting started for me is almost impossible. But I did it. My current WIP I started in the beginning of this month, and I'll meet my deadline again. I've set another deadline when I begin my edit for my first WIP, which will be one month as this is my first time editing novel length, and I already know my first WIP has more bumps than my current one as it was my first attempt at a novel...and writing in first person.

On a final note, what helps me most is meditation and exercise. Both help calm my mind when I need to plot or brainstorm ideas. Some of my best solutions to story problems come while I'm meditating. I do walking, sitting and gym machine meditations. The most success I found on the elliptical trainer because of the repetitive motion and steady beat of trance music in my headphones.

Find your own rituals that relax you and you'll find your ability to concentrate.

Juvela Obi said:

I know there's no magic trick. If I took a two minute break to jot down every bunny I find interesting, out of four hours writing, eighty-some-odd percent of it would be writing the bunnies down. That's how fast I come up with them. And most of them, especially the ones that I'd actually want to write, make little sense, if any. That's where I need the help--figuring out WHAT to write in the first place, and how to make it at all workable.

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Well, what I'm about to say may be a case where what works for me would be ttly inappropriate for you - but I'm thinking that it may be better for you to find a way to allow yourself to finish your current WIP despite the distractions caused by a very active and very creative mind.

I also believe that many creative people have a part of their minds that is set on preventing them from doing the thing they really want to do. I think that the surplus of wonderful ideas (you did list some awesome ideas) is part of a self-protective impulse from withing the complex workings of your mind. If you are always looking for that great story, it prevents you from finishing that ordinary story...

Also, I submit that it is critical to your development as an artist to develop your own judgment about of what ideas of your own worth working on.

Have you considered something like this:
resist writing the idea down. acknowledge it, say thank you to your subconscious for the great idea, & ask if it would hold on to it for later. Let those ideas sink back down into your subconscious and have your 'deep creator' work on the ideas, bubble & chew them & grow them, while your conscious and linear mind gets on with the task of making the beginning middle and end of your story. (I do mean quite literally asking, either by thinking the words or saying them out loud "Thank you for that wonderful idea about ... I'd like to write 200 words of the current story now. I love that idea. Can you hold on to it for me please. I would appraciate it if you would bring it up again sometime after I finish (this paragraph, these 200 words - whatever, but something *clearly* defined)

(Are you worried about forgetting any of those cool ideas that bubble up? Did you know that the Beatles never wrote down any of their songs? Their contention was, if we can't remember it, why should anyone else? My point here is that if the idea really is worth developing, your subconscious will send it back to you, guaranteed. & probably in a more workable form. )


(something else you could try - when the bunnies arrive, give in to them completely, write down everything as fast as you can. Keep going and going till it stops. Think that once you start it will just keep going forever? How about if you find out if that is true?)

This is my biggest problem, for sure. I even blogged about it.

A couple things I've found that help, even if they don't eliminate the problem, are trying to fold new 'ideas' into existing WIPs--sometimes I can turn something that thinks it's a whole new book into a subplot, or background info for a certain character; also, I keep a brainstorming journal to jot down half-finished ideas. Sometimes it helps just to get them out of my head.

Could you perhaps convince the plot bunnies to concentrate their hopping around the characters you want to write about? Or at least to hop in the same universe?

I have a raging case of the plotbunnies myself - but I make it work by having a single, special universe all my stories happen in. Any plot-bunnies that crop up are still useful even if they are not related to the story I want to write, because they flesh out the universe more. Seriously- a couple of days ago I got a plotbunny about watching birth from the perspective of a small child and now I have a much better idea of the religious beliefs, rituals and daily life of your everyday peasant in my world.

In my best moments I can turn a plot-bunny into a plot that could work for one of my characters that I want to write about - as a side or back story that could stay in my head and influence how I write the character in the future.

Would that help you?

I find that plot bunnies add depth to my characters. I get off on a tangent and end up going back to cut scenes that sprung up from the misbehaving bunnies, but I lear about the character and it makes it easier to keep the character in character throughout the book.

Juvela Obi said:

One of my biggest causes of writer's block is my high rate of plot bunny production. I get two or three pages into a story (or if I'm lucky, eight or ten pages) and then I get an idea for another story (or five or fifteen). I get so distracted by the urge to record and develope the new ones, I can't concentrate on the one I'm working on. Then my mind goes blank on my current story, but I'm full to bursting with ideas for others, so I move on.

So, here's a thread where I hope I and anyone else who wants to can bounce plot bunnies off each other. It helps with my brainstorming process to get feedback on my ideas, and other people with different perspectives can give tips and ideas on developement of a plot bunny. Thus, plot bunnies may turn into plots, and we can always keep each other grounded and focused by offering suggestions in the case of writer's block.

Is anyone else up for it?

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I have this problem, too. "Bunnies" is a good term for it, since plots can multiply like rabbits and distract you with their sheer numbers.

I keep a file on my computer for my plot bunnies, and come back to check them out after I've completed a book. So the rule is that I can add to the Plot Bunny file whenever I want to (as in, put in a new idea, not develop an idea already in there) but I can't take anything out to start playing with it until I've finished a book or at least an outline that I can make good use of later. It works for me! Might work for some other folks looking to organize their bunnies.

Layla Nahar said:

I also believe that many creative people have a part of their minds that is set on preventing them from doing the thing they really want to do. I think that the surplus of wonderful ideas (you did list some awesome ideas) is part of a self-protective impulse from withing the complex workings of your mind. If you are always looking for that great story, it prevents you from finishing that ordinary story...

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I think this is totally my problem. I have a ton of great ideas and I think I use them all as excuses not to actually work on one of them at a time. I get distracted by the shiney newness of the idea and drop whatever I'm working on to concentrate on it.

I need to be a little more focused and disciplined and this thread has given me some fantastic ideas on how to do that. Thanks!

Just my two cents... I am always having little ideas pop up into my head, especially when I'm writing (the creative juices are going so they really start coming out?) but unless it has to do with the WIP I am typing on I throw them back into the dark recesses of my mind.

There is no way humanly possible to take every single "great idea" I've had and develop it into a full working story. I have to pick and choose.

I probably can't remember 90% of my plot bunnies. But the 10% I do remember always come back to me when I'm driving or at the grocery store, always with another little tidbit to add. When I'm done with my WIP I take a creative breath and see which one is ready to go next.

If they are worth remembering they will come back, and probably with another bunny in tow.