Plot Bunnies

I used to have a hard time coming up with story ideas. It was torture, like my mind was one large empty void.

Sometimes, I miss those days.

Now, it feels more like anything can become a story. Anything can become something worth writing about. Because if you look at it this way instead of that way, it's much more interesting.

It also helps that I stopped trying to write happy stories. That's when all the ideas started flowing.

I believe every writer has their niche. Those niches call out to the mindframes and talents of different writers, needing their unique talents to write for them. For me, it ended up not being happy stories that I could proudly share with my friends and family; when I was 18, my mother only had to read one of my works before letting me know she never wanted to again. She still supports it, but it's too dark for her. That's okay.

During my lull of writing, I was trying to force myself into a different niche. Like a round peg into a square hole, I wasn't able to make it work. When I moved to the matching hole, I was able to write again, and progress in both quality and frequency.

I felt like a toddler who learned about different shapes.

I'll admit I was a people pleaser; I wanted to write books that people wanted to read, instead of books I enjoyed writing. While marketing for the public can be helpful, it doesn't work if I can't produce anything to write! Then I realized there's more than one type of reader, and things are flowing again.

And I love my new little niche; there's so much opportunity in my dark little corner. The plot bunnies I breed might be a vicious, flesh-eating batch of little demons, but they sure do have fun romping around back there in my brain!

And of course, readers like me and you get to enjoy the odd results that can only come from the dark minds of writers willing to walk this road.