Thursday, April 1, 2010

Attack of the Killer Plot Bunny


I was merrily writing away yesterday when a dreadful thought occurred as I grabbed a cup of tea and rolled over in my mind what I had just written.

I had gone off on a tangent!

I became seduced by the lure of a plot thread that really had nothing to do with the flow and direction of the main plot. Yes, I had encountered the dreaded plot bunny. That little critter burrows its way into prose and can create a convoluted and twisted plot which, if left alone, can destroy manuscripts as easily as it can a field of vegetables.

What did I do?

I panicked first...then, once I had calmed and realised I didn't have to cut out great chunks of writing, i sat down and calmly went through what I had just written. I caught said plot bunny just in time. I sent in my 'fox' and eradicated all signs of its created tangent from my WIP. I can't believe I didn't see what I had done sooner. It took me all morning yesterday to get rid of the useless thread. Actually, the only reason I caught it was because I got to a point and I thought...hang on...this isn't where I'm supposed to be by chapter 12!

Thank God I write out a bullet point skeleton plot for all of my works. Otherwise I don't know what would have happened. Instead of writing a fantasy involving dragon shifters and nymphs I could have ended up writing Anne of Green Gables or something. *shudder*

Die plot bunny. DIE!

6 comments:

Tierney O'Malley said...

=) I use bullets also, Mark. Sort of a guide. It's really helpful. Glad you got rit of the nasty plot bunny.

T

Tierney O'Malley said...

Uhm, I meant to write rid not rit. Need new glasses. Hehee

Mark Alders said...

Haha. I think bullet points really help. And I can also tell you, Anne of Green Gables is NOT what I write at all! LOL

*hugs*

Mark

Kathleen Scott/MK Mancos said...

I love plot bunnies. They're so fuzzy and cute and smell like carrots.

It's the plot ferrets that are bad. They take your pens and paper, keyboards and mouse and run away with them.

Tierney O'Malley said...

Kat, now I know the culprits! Those dang ferrets!

Mark Alders said...

But it's always the cute ones that are EVIL! Plot bunnies may look cute, but watch out!

Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaa


*hugs*

Mark

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