When to Hurt Your Bunnies

See that cute bunny dancing with a giant carrot? You know you have to hurt him, because otherwise there'd be no story. You also have some ideas on how to do it. But when should you do it?

Often! Whenever you can!

Poor bunny. Happy reader!

Every scene has three parts: goal, conflict, disaster. You can hurt your bunny during the conflict part; that's obvious. he has to fight a bully, scale a mountain, or survive a hurricane. You can also hurt your bunny during the disaster. That, too, is obvious. A bomb goes off, the boogie man jumps out of the closet, he gets a huge pimple on his nose just before his big date with the head cheerleader. Youch!

Every sequel has three parts: reaction, dilemma, decision. You can also hurt your bunny during the dilemma, as he tries to decide what to do. That, again, is obvious. You can make him agonize over what to do. Does he pull the plug on his brain-dead son? Does he confront the bully? Does he run into the burning building to save the child?

You can hurt your bunny as soon as he's made a decision about what to do. How? Make that decision a poor one. Perhaps he's made the choice to have it out, once and for all, with the fellow employee who is always stabbing him in the back. But, perhaps, that choice is the wrong one because he doesn't know yet that he doesn't have all the correct information, and it's the wrong fellow employee being accused. Perhaps the information he's using is out of date, so the choice to not vaccinate his child is based on incorrect data. Perhaps he assumes the head cheerleader won't mind the huge pimple and will like him for who he is inside.

What about hurting your bunny during the goal? Perhaps your bunny in the previous sequel has made a decision about what to do next. His goal now for the next scene is to implement that decision. So how do you hurt him? By allowing him to have the wrong goal. What follows will hurt him. He's decided to confront the bully, which is a good decision, but his goal to do it during lunchtime when the bully's friends are there to help him, is a bad idea.

You get the idea. Hurt your bunny often. Chase him up a tree and throw rocks at him. Remember, though, that your bunny must grow stronger during each time of "hurt." You're hitting him with his weaknesses, his flaws, his fears. As he works out how to survive each onslaught, he gets a little stronger. So, by the end of the book, your bunny has grown as a person, has grown into a stronger, wiser rabbit. What didn't kill him will make him stronger. And at the end he can dance with the giant carrot. Or maybe eat it

Why Hurt the Bunnies?

Look at that sweet bunny. Could you really hurt it?

I coined the phrase "hurt the bunnies" after reading so many stories where there was no problem to be solved, no conflict -- nothing happened. It started when I judged a contest and every single entry was a picture book/short story about bunnies...except one that was about groundhogs (and this one actually had a problem to solve). The bunnies basically hopped around all day holding hands, picking flowers, and remarking on what a wonderful world they lived in. I have to admit that after reading dozens of stories like that, I really did have an urge to hurt those bunnies.

But the phrase "hurt the bunnies" actually is for the writers, to remind them that stories aren't interesting unless we can in some way identify with the main character -- or main bunny -- and feel sympathy for him. We have to care what happens to him. If nothing happens, then we feel as if we've wasted the time we invested in that character/bunny. So the writer needs to "hurt" that character/bunny in some way. The "hurt" doesn't have to be physical. It can be a need, a desire, a wish, a goal...but it can also be a physical or emotional "hurt." A "bunny" without a problem is a boring bunny, and no one wants to read about boring bunnies.

So the answer to the questions that introduced this blog post is: Yes! I can hurt that bunny!

Write Every Day

Do you realize that if you wrote only one page every day for a year, you'd have 365 pages. That equals one adult novel, or one and a half YAs, or two middle-grades, or five chapter books, and a crazy number of picture books and short stories!

And if you took off weekends and holidays, you'd still write over 200 pages.

It's so easy NOT to write, though. That toilet just has to be cleaned the minute I sit down to write. The phone rings and demands to be answered. I have to check Facebook and my email. There are blogs to read. And I almost forgot! I have a coupld of tweets to write -- will that count toward my writing time?

It's a lot easier to write if you have a time to write. During that time segment, sit down at your computer and write. DO NOT go on the internet at all. If you have to do any research that would involve going online or getting up from your chair, put xxx in the place in your manuscript where you need it and then keep writing. You can always go back and fill in what you need. Instead, focus on getting the words down. Get the story written.

It's also a lot easier to write if you have a special place. That doesn't mean you have to have a fancy desk. You don't even have to have only one place to write. I have a desk; it's not fancy, but it works. I also have a laptop that I can take with me. So I do! I've started taking it to work and writing on my break. That's what my son does, because he works full-time and wants to be able to play with his 19-month-old daughter when he gets home. I was impressed with how much he gets done on his netbook, so I decided to try it for myself.

You don't even have to sit in front of a computer/laptop/netbook/ipad to write. Carry a notebook or notepad with you and write. Sit in the park or in a coffeehouse and write. Write while you're waiting for the doctor or for an appointment. Write while you're in the car line at school, waiting to pick up your kids.

The point is that you should really try hard to write every day. I know there are days when you're sick or your kids are sick, or both. I know there are days when you are so crazy busy that you don't know which end is up. I know there are days when you'd rather prop up your feet on the coffee table and lose yourself in some mindless TV show or movie. Been there, done all of that. But here's the truth: You're a writer, right? Then you need to write. Every day, if at all possible.

More About My Underwear...Book

Well, I didn't get to do all that I wanted to do this week. I was critiquing manuscripts from classes and friends. But I did read over what I'd written eight long years ago. My goal was to read it over and make notes about anything I wanted to change or edit or add. It was hard to do! I'd had on my editor hat all week, and it was hard to take it off when I was reading my own work. My fingers were itching to do a complete rewrite, an overnhaul...but now is not the time. There's actually not many big changes that I'd make, but I still wanted to do it.

The reason I'm resisting doing edits is because now is not the time. I need to get the words down first...make some "word clay." After I've gotten the novel written, then I can go back and edit and revise. If I do it now, then all I'm doing is polishing the first six chapters, instead of finishing my book.

I resisted editing and made notes, so that when I'm ready, I can review my notes and add more. Now I'm ready to write another chapter. I'm going to try to do 1,000 words each day. That's about 4 pages. That feels slow to me, because I'm used to writing much faster. But, right now, I think I'll be doing good to get that much written each day.

Thanks for all the encouragement! I really appreciate it.