Chicks-n-Scratching

There’s a reason they’re called plot bunnies. They multiply like bunnies for sure, at least for me. I have so many of the little critters I could write these stories for years. It’s really baffling.

I’m not sure where my plot bunnies come from – I mean, what provides the genesis that creates the little buggers in the first place. And the plot bunnies don’t arrive the same way. Sometimes I’ll get a setting first – an entire world fully built on one occasion. Sometimes I’ll get a character first. Trusting Destiny was that way – Eric showed up and just charmed me completely. Sometimes I’ll have a vague notion of a cool idea and things grow organically from that. Twice as High worked that way – I thought “What if the guys with wings aren’t angels. What if they’re ALIENS?!” The whole story grew from there. Sometimes I’ll get the plot first – though not usually. Will and Astrid (Work in Progress) came that way. Will’s character followed close behind the plot, so it was a strong idea. In a lot of cases, I’ll get a scene. A single scene that tells me there’s a story to be told. Dining In is one of those scenes, but This Fire also came that way. The first scene I had in my head for that one was the meeting room at the ball. Most rarely – only once so far, actually – the title comes first. This one is the only one I’m sure of the generating circumstance and idea, and I’m still hammering out the details of the story. It’s definitely the most unusual plot-bunny arrival method for me, as I usually struggle for titles.

What about you? How does your inspiration arrive?

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