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Character Gerbil? The Cuttlefish of Irrelevant Interludes?
We all know there are plot bunnies, which are prone to grabbing the attention of even diligent writers and lead them off into the proverbial bushes, but I myself have never caught sight of a plot bunny. I’ve never even seen a subplot hare.
“Lack of Plot” is the reason I’ve never completed any original work.* For several years I’d figured I just clearly wasn’t a writer, despite earlier aspirations in that direction, and then I got incensed about the treatment of a side character in Mass Effect and wrote enough that I can definitely say I’m a Writer, as in “One who writes” — not necessarily good, and playing in someone else’s sandbox, true, but after 150,000 words I can’t exactly say I don’t write.
When I’m feeling good about my fanfic** I think “I should really try something original!” I get all excited about that for awhile, and then run into the problem of “Okay, so… what?”
Because I’ve never seen a plot bunny. The animal I get brings a character — usually only one, for starters — and part of their world. Not usually a big part; often more a mood than anything concrete. The middle aged woman carrying her guitar into a bar for one more low paying gig (the bar is on a space station); the Mender who can reknit the fibers of broken things with a touch (but not make things new, like others she knows); the girl who feels the memory of objects touched by human hands (they terrify her, until she picks up an instrument, and is washed in memories of music).
There are things there that could be interesting. I generally like the people that walk into my head! But I don’t know what happens to them that makes a story with a beginning-middle-end, any kind of conflict beyond, maybe, a small amount of day-to-day personal growth.
And for right now, since it’s bed-time, I’d settle for knowing what the solitary-character-delivery animal is called.
*There are two exceptions. I had one story in which I’d created the conflict (murder and framing) but then had no way to solve the crime. And I finished and submitted a short story to a now-defunct fantasy magazine several years ago which received a very nice personalized rejection explaining that while the writing was beautiful, there wasn’t actually a plot. Which was totally true.
** which is reasonably often; I sway from ‘meh’ to ‘giddy’ about my writing, without much of the ‘I suck and should crawl under a log and be eaten by a badger’ feeling that I encounter in visual art
We all know there are plot bunnies, which are prone to grabbing the attention of even diligent writers and lead them off into the proverbial bushes, but I myself have never caught sight of a plot bunny. I’ve never even seen a subplot hare.
“Lack of Plot” is the reason I’ve never completed any original work.* For several years I’d figured I just clearly wasn’t a writer, despite earlier aspirations in that direction, and then I got incensed about the treatment of a side character in Mass Effect and wrote enough that I can definitely say I’m a Writer, as in “One who writes” — not necessarily good, and playing in someone else’s sandbox, true, but after 150,000 words I can’t exactly say I don’t write.
When I’m feeling good about my fanfic** I think “I should really try something original!” I get all excited about that for awhile, and then run into the problem of “Okay, so… what?”
Because I’ve never seen a plot bunny. The animal I get brings a character — usually only one, for starters — and part of their world. Not usually a big part; often more a mood than anything concrete. The middle aged woman carrying her guitar into a bar for one more low paying gig (the bar is on a space station); the Mender who can reknit the fibers of broken things with a touch (but not make things new, like others she knows); the girl who feels the memory of objects touched by human hands (they terrify her, until she picks up an instrument, and is washed in memories of music).
There are things there that could be interesting. I generally like the people that walk into my head! But I don’t know what happens to them that makes a story with a beginning-middle-end, any kind of conflict beyond, maybe, a small amount of day-to-day personal growth.
And for right now, since it’s bed-time, I’d settle for knowing what the solitary-character-delivery animal is called.
*There are two exceptions. I had one story in which I’d created the conflict (murder and framing) but then had no way to solve the crime. And I finished and submitted a short story to a now-defunct fantasy magazine several years ago which received a very nice personalized rejection explaining that while the writing was beautiful, there wasn’t actually a plot. Which was totally true.
** which is reasonably often; I sway from ‘meh’ to ‘giddy’ about my writing, without much of the ‘I suck and should crawl under a log and be eaten by a badger’ feeling that I encounter in visual art
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no subject
Date: 2012-10-24 05:58 am (UTC)From:Some might argue that characters arrive via stork, like babies. And that might make sense.
But my characters show up rather forcefully, and unexpectedly, plopping down in the middle of my head and taking over 90% of my thought processes for a while. And there's really only one animal that can pull that off.
The Character Guerrilla. Also known as The Characterist. He wears a ski mask, smokes a very illegal Cuban cigar, carries a giant pen with a bandelier of ink cartridges, and writes children books on the side.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-24 03:32 pm (UTC)From:Baraxon suggested a cat (it brings you presents at two in the morning), which almost fits but is a little morbid. Hmmm...
no subject
Date: 2012-10-24 08:05 am (UTC)From:So yes, have some sympathy.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-24 01:54 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-10-26 05:42 pm (UTC)From:I participated in NaNoWriMo a few years ago with a bullshit quote that turned into some fantasy universe from my childhood RPG sessions and pushed out 28,000 words in two weeks. I haven't gone back to it, but there's enough there to sprout other ideas and directions.
Mass Effect, on the other hand, seems to be contained in 100 word drabbles, due to all the plots and side missions my brain wants to venture into. :|