When Plot Bunnies attack
When Plot Bunnies Attack!
By: Pemberly Rose
November is National Novel Writing Month. Also known as NaNoWriMo. For years I’ve participated in NaNo in some form or another unofficially, writing or editing with a friend. I had hoped that this would be the year I would crank out 50k words in one month but alas no. This year, I am unable to participate. And you know what’s worse? It’s been like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes over here except with plot bunnies.
I love writing original stories in addition to my fanfic. My fanfic I use as a writing exercise to improve my quality of writing. I’m sure, that I still have leaps and bounds of growth to go through before anything of mine is ever worth publishing. Then again, I’m my harshest critic. On top of writing as you all know from previous blogs that I am a pre-med student, a biology tutor and household manager for the parental units I live with. A lot of us FF writers are in college or at least have been there once, twice or three times before. This semester has been hellish to say the least. So when November rolled near and NaNo sign ups were getting filled I reluctantly had to stop myself from signing up. After all I’ve already overloaded myself with volunteer work at the humane society, working at my job (tutoring) and then of course the brand new bane of my existence, organic chemistry.
From here everything sort of goes ridiculous on me. While I’m slaving away on calculus and organic chemistry reaction mechanisms I find my thoughts drifting worse than a kid on a sugar high. Normally I can focus for hours on end. Lately though, the running theme has been writing. Ideas and plot bunnies galore.
Yes they’re cute and cuddly and make you want to entertain them, but watch out these lil suckers are more dangerous than Rhage’s beast.
Wait, oh this is more like it…
Ah yes, the monster within...
What makes matters worse is that I would do anything to write right about now. I use writing often as a relaxer. When life is ticking me off I’ll put in the trusty ear buds, flick on my playlists and go to town in Gdocs. Yet right now, when my life is the most stressful I have zero, zilch, nada time for relaxing. It figures doesn’t it?
I know I’m not alone here. Many of my fandom friends have been uber inspired the last few weeks but between work, family, school and sometimes all of the above it’s hard to find the time, energy or even motivation at times to even sit down to write at all. That’s the real rub right there. It’s bad enough to be strapped for time to study, but when I’m really stressed and can’t do my favorite stress reliever? It makes the desire for this semester to be over that much stronger.
In the mean time to combat the plot bunnies that are fleeting and brutal in their ninja attacks I’ve taken to carrying around a packet of post-its. Yes, that’s right. Post-its. I know every writer has their own special quirk that sets them apart from the rest. Mine is terribly unoriginal but it seems to be staving off the slaughter of my brain cells from these ferocious creatures. When I’m working on an organic chem lab report (which I should be doing right now anyways) or studying for a calculus test (also should be doing right now) I jot down the plot bunnies that apparate into my brain faster than you can say Merlin’s beard!
This seems to soothe the little beasts for now. Though I’m sure it’s only staving off my inevitable demise. Ha, now there’s an intriguing idea: death by plot bunny.
So this blog post in particular is dedicated to all the people brave enough to weather the NaNo storm and give it their all this year. Maybe I’ll be joining you for real next year!
**Special thanks to icanhazcheezeburger, deviant art, and infectiveink.com for the pictures.
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