One Dead Vocab, Pt. 1 - Premise Bunnies

[kalloway]

So you may have noticed a few strange terms popping up...

Now we all know what a plotbunny is - it's that story idea that chomps onto your brain and bothers you while driving, at school, at work, before sleep, in the shower, etc. It is brilliant and if you could just hook a USB cable straight into your brain, you'd be all set.

Less ferocious are Premise Bunnies. Premise Bunnies often pretend to be plotbunnies and on first glance, they can be impossible to tell apart! Sometimes, Premise Bunnies actually turn into plotbunnies through magic.

But what is a Premise Bunny?

A Premise Bunny is a true curse. Premise Bunnies are often distinguished by their vague characteristics, such as 'Bob/Wendy have an adventure' (A plotbunny would be closer to 'Bob/Wendy having grand adventures in space fighting giant robot pirates and helping Emperor von Alphabet reclaim his throne while slowly mending their broken relationship after the events of Episode 43'.) and lack of a general narrative.

The worst thing that can happen with a Premise Bunny is that it turns into a WiP that goes nowhere, because there was never a plot behind it, only a premise.

Premise Bunnies are best fed time and ideas until they magically become proper plotbunnies, though often, unfortunately, many also have to be released back to the wild as well.

I sometimes think premise bunnies breed under my bed, considering how many I seem to have, but those are actually dust bunnies and I should vacuum.

Comments

[vampthenewblack]

Premise bunnies are the bane of my existence. I had one last night, and it's still bugging me, threatening to grow into a plot.

[I've always called these baby bunnies, or depending on size, plot bunny embryos.]

[omens]

Premise bunnies.. >:(

[alassenya]

I'm actually fairly resistant to premise bunnies - not that I don't get them, but no idea in my head becomes a WIP unless I get a hook scene that I write out, usually followed by a fairly extensive outline and a set of character traits, and often followed by the ending/epilogue.

Ideas that are more vague go into my prompts and outlines folder and mostly don't come out -- there are 34 in there at the moment. Plus there is another folder full of prompts (both my own and other people's).

[carriemac]

I'm drowning in premise bunnies. :(

[kalloway]

I have a lot in the form of requests that people made ages ago. A pairing/keyword does not a plot make and sometimes having to come up with a story (no matter how basic) is nigh-impossible.

[jack_of_none]

I have kind of a section of this in one of my WIPs :V

My outline is kind of like

> Scene
> Scene
> [shenanigans ensue]
> Conclusion

[kalloway]

Maybe once you start working on it, the gaps will fill themselves in?

[jack_of_none]

Maybe...part of it is a genre problem, I think. I'm not used to trying to be cute and light-hearted :X

[ldybastet]

... I should vacuum more often. Maybe that will get rid of these bastards. ;) (Either way, it would be a great way to procrastinate!!!!!)

I have loads of these. Every time my "characters" (I write JRock RPS) do anything: a photo shoot, release a single, a concert, tweet (and one of them tweets an awful lot!), breathe... up pops a premise bunny. I could play Whack-a-Bunny, and I'd lose so hard! *le sigh*

Best, in my experience, is if you can bounce the premise bunny with someone else, someone who asks the relevant questions like "why do they do that?", "where is it coming from?", "where are they?", "is there someone else there?", "why are *they* there too?", etc etc... like a beta-reader. :) At least that helps me a lot. If the answers are "I don't know", then that particular premise bunny will never become anything, never get a haircut and get a job. That's when I release it back into the wild.

I think even if the answers one comes up with at first are wrong and might change in the course of the plotting, they're still good, because they helped form that premise into something more. "So, they have this adventure. Where? Errr... on a train! They meet this dude... who does evil action x, and then they hijack the ... maybe it's a plane? Oooh, it could be in space! Maybe the evil dude is a robot! That's why they can't defeat him!" It's all good as long as something sets the wheels rolling in your plotpart of the brain. :) But if the bunny just stares back at you when you try to examine it, it's not going to reveal its secrets.

As a side note, I really really REALLY want to be able to hook up to the USB and just download my stories! Because it's the actual writing that trips me. I managed 64 words yesterday before the incredible itching to be somewhere else and do something not-writing hit me. Grrr!

[kalloway]

Vacuuming is my least-favorite chore even though it takes, like, five minutes and isn't miserable at while I'm doing it. So it's like my god-tier level procrastination. ^^;;

I have a very bad habit of stalling on stories I've thought about too much. One WiP has the next chapter contain a set of scenes that spurred the whole story in the beginning. So I've thought about this part for like three years already - writing it out seems redundant!

[ldybastet]

Oh! What you say about overthinking a plot resonates with me! Yes yes! Writing it out seems redundant!

... Now we just need to figure out ow to fix this! LOL

[anassa_anemou]

Every time my "characters" (I write JRock RPS) do anything: a photo shoot, release a single, a concert, tweet (and one of them tweets an awful lot!), breathe... up pops a premise bunny. I could play Whack-a-Bunny, and I'd lose so hard! *le sigh*

I completly feel you, I'm like that with One Direction and the worst is lately I can't even write anything in that fandom, imagine in my other 300 fandoms.

[ldybastet]

I'm so glad I only have this one fandom now! Even though it sometimes overlaps with other Japanese band fandoms. LOL I used to be in a few anime fandoms too, but this band took over all my creativity. :) I can't imagine how you cope with lots of fandoms at the same time!!!

[elizabeth_rice]

if you could just hook a USB cable straight into your brain, you'd be all set.
Oh man, I want technology that allows me to download my thoughts like 10 years ago! Where are all the crazy scientists?

Premise Bunnies are best fed time and ideas until they magically become proper plotbunnies, though often, unfortunately, many also have to be released back to the wild as well.
Ahaha, cool analogy. Did not know there was a difference but it totally makes sense.

I sometimes think premise bunnies breed under my bed, considering how many I seem to have, but those are actually dust bunnies and I should vacuum.
LOL

[kalloway]

Where are all the crazy scientists?

I actually have a book that explains why that technology may never exist despite it being such a common sci-fi trope. Alas. I would have been first in line to sign up.

I think the difference made itself apparent to me when I started going thru stalled WiPs and realized the main reason they'd stall was that they were based more on a premise than a full-fledged plot.

[taichara]

I have turned the spawning and nurturing of premise bunnies into a fine art, if I do say so myself. Plotbunnies can be dire, but these little fraggers are my bread and butter for daily tinkering.

They feed off of turnips, btw ;3

[kalloway]

*sporfles*

[taichara]

What? I'm being honest ~!

Besides, that's where things like KoB and MCK came from ~

[kalloway]

They came from turnips? *ducks*

[taichara]

Borged turnips, MCK did ~~

[kalloway]

There's a Surya joke in there somewhere and I'm not awake enough to make it.

[taichara]

Plantborgs are a time-honoured tradition, yes!

[kalloway]

Then again, all-MCK-things-considered, Surya being part turnip actually wouldn't be strange at all. It doesn't make him less HNNNNNGHHHH

[taichara]

There could~ have been some odd tinkering aaaaaaaages back when Rigel and Sadal were setting up shop ;3~ *snrrrrrrrrk*

[chordatesrock]

Well, that was timely. *just received a premise bunny* I wonder whether I should do anything with this shiny, very dark premise.

[geckoholic]

Perfect term for these stupid little buggers. >:(

[roseargent]

I actually don't mind premise bunnies. I've started with much less than even that, in the past, and had good results. Maybe it's because I tend towards shorter fiction (under 5K words usually)?

[crookedspoon]

Premise bunnies are all I have. How do you take care of them until they grow and level up? It's not as easy as Pokémon.

[kalloway]

Lots of planning, outlining, etc. And asking it 'what happens after that?' and 'how' and 'why' at intervals until it coughs up answers.