Plot Bunny Farm Explosion

[thefireisblack]

It's been a long, long time since I've done this but it's really overdue. My brain breeds up more plot bunnies that I can keep up with, much less develop and allow to grow. I have a little booklet of plots that I keep around for various fandoms. Some get used, some get recycled but most get ignored because I never gave the idea anymore structure beyond a notion. Hence the term "fic napkin notion." I finally found a copy of the play That Darn Plot so that I could confirm the line. In the script, the playwright had jotted the idea on a beer coaster but the performance I saw changed it to a napkin, which I find more relevant in my case because most places I go out to have napkins. Beer coasters not so much unless I'm in Alberta having my usual cocktail. I don't drink except for the holidays or the very odd day I crave that particular cocktail. Ahem.

I find it interesting how I've bounced from fandom to fandom in the last couple of years. Why about four years ago, it was all about A:TLA this or A:TLA that. Now YJ has taken over for the most part. Level 1 denotes that the story is just a fic napkin notion and may or may not have a title already. Level 2 means I have put in major plot points. Level 3 is outlined, plotted, titled and already being written; there's enough material that someone could take it over.

Young Justice

• Alice Chronicles - The life of a girl named Artemis Crock in three parts. [3]
• Technicalities - Wally wakes up after Coldhearted to an unexpected visitor and unsolicited advice. [3]
• On a Valentine's Day - a certain feline assassin makes a midnight visit to our favourite redhead. [3]
• Kid Games - {Justice League Unlimited/Young Justice} Mordred and Klarion need to get their timing straight. Only one person can cast the ageing spell at a time. Otherwise, there will be consequences. Young Justice meets Kid Justice. [1]
• Mirrors - {Young Justice/Young Avengers} You never really are as unique as you think you are. [1]
• Mad Games - You really didn't think you could run around with a moniker like Cheshire and a nickname like Alice without catching the Mad Hatter's attention in Gotham City did you? [1]
• The Boys of Ice and Steel - a series of vignettes following the team-up of Superboy and Icicle Jr. [1]

Teen Titans

• Captured - In a world where Wildfire joined the Teen Titans and Robin remained Slade's apprentice, Starfire has escaped the Citadel to Earth and the first person she meets is...Red X? [3]
• Trade - Raven/Malchior. General idea is that Trigon might be unable to access Earth but he can access other worlds. He comes upon a pocket dimension where a certain dragon has more than a couple things to say about his daughter Raven. [2]

Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra

• Between Heaven and Earth - Once upon a time, a young skittish Sun Warrior is to take his coming-of-age journey...if he could survive the deep dark swamp first. AU Sun Warrior! Zuko/Swamp Tribe! Katara [1]
• The Brothers of Ba Sing Se - It's a new Ba Sing Se after the war, but a dark shadow still looms over the city. From those shadows rise two unlikely heroes! He's the former renegade leader of the Freedom Fighters. He's an undercover Fire Lord - and together, they fight crime! [So definitely a 3]

Genbu Kaiden

• FY in the Verse - The stakes are higher this time. Not a country but a star system to be saved. Not by one miko but the for. Reincarnation fic. [1]
• Sky Folktale - In an alternate world in 1923, Takiko Okuda is a daughter who leaves her home when she has nothing to become a physician; Lady Uruki Roun, who wants to flee the cage society has built around her to be what nature irrevocably made her, a wind magician. [3]
• Jiarenqu - A song sung by Tegu twines the lives of his brother, the mercenary Haagasuu, and the Genbu no miko. [2]

Saiunkoku Monogatari

• Vampire Princess Shuurei: Beyond the Indigo Mirror - The world of the living and the dead are reflections and shadows of each other. When Shouka broke the Hyou mirror containing the 108 spirits, the mirror of the netherworld that held 108 demons shattered, breaking the barrier between both worlds. Government official Shuurei meets her counterpart, the Kou Watcher. [2]
• Vampire Princess Shuurei: Tears of the Earth - You never forget the one that got away. The Kou Watcher reminisces over one of her many failures, him above all else. [2]

Animated, misc.

• Blackest Knight - {Vampire Hunter Knight AU} The tale of deadliest huntress of them all, Yuki aka Red Riding Hood. [1]
• Fate/Stay Knight - {Fate/Stay Night, more Nasuverse combo} In all the summonings in all the worlds, he never expected to be summoned for a Dead Apostle...and the Dead Apostle to be Rin, one of the 27 ancestors. [1]
• Ascension - {Inuyasha/Ayashi no Ceres with the odd Mermaid Saga reference} Miroku had joked about Sango being a tennyo. What if he was right? [3]
• Benibana no Otome Uta - {Inuyasha/Sakura Hime Kaden} After the battle with Kaguya, Inuyasha goes to see an old friend. [1]
• Songs of the Undead - {My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic} Sometimes, before wicked queens, there were kind hearted princess. [2]
• Remnants - {Green Lantern: The Animated Series} In a future where only one Red Lantern lives and a cyborg struggles to remember their past. [1]

Books, misc.

• Bloodlines/Mediator crossover - Both series takes place in California. We have two people who can see ghosts and vampires have been alluded to in Mediator. [2]
• Family Secrets - {Vampire Academy/Lost Girl crossover} I blame this on Kenzie's actress. Her gorgeous eyes made me wonder if Kenzie was related to Christian "Hello cousin, I need a favour". Kenzie has taken quite a few hits for a human. [1]
• Ghost Moon - {Mediator/Blood and Chocolate} Suze's dealt with angry ghosts, homicidal killers, and wannabe vampires, but can she handle werewolves? [2.5]
• Swords and Crosses - {Spiderwick Chronicles/Valiant} Valerie and Mallory: two girls trying to get through college with swords and faeries. [3]
• The Book Convention - {Castle/NCIS/Bones} Murder of a naval officer in a New York mystery convention. What could go wrong? [2]

Comic book based, misc.

• Fables/Hellboy: Bigby Wolf and BPRD team-up (particularly Red) against Baba Yaga. [1]
• Firefly/Green Lantern crossover. A ring finds its way to a certain Captain Tight Pants. Nathan Fillion indulgence all the way. [1]
• Saving Grace - Gambit meets an old friend of his. Based off an old dream ROMY [1]
• Black & Blue - {Runaways/New X-Men} Two leaders, one burden. [1]
• Shadowlands - {X-Men AU} In which Reaper meets the Angel of Death. ROMY [1]

Movies, misc.

• Government Secrets - {Chuck/Movieverse!Hellboy} Chuck finds a part of the Intersect about BPRD. [1]
• Hoist the Colours - {Pirates of the Caribbean} He came to her for revenge. She gave him love instead. Davy/Calypso [2]
• Delirium - {Hercules/Sinbad of the Seven Seas} What Happens When a Goddess of Discord and a God of Death Fall in Well You Know...Love. [2]
• The White Rabbit Job Extermination - {Labyrinth/Inception} "An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you." "So how does one destroy an idea?" [2]
• Dragons and Arrows - {How to Train Your Dragon/Brave} - The four clans decide to get the jump on the Vikings of Berk. What could go wrong? Merida/Hiccup [2]
• Huntress - {Star Wars AU} Padme survives and continues to survive. She knows how to be patient. [2]

As you can see from this list, only 8 out 38, that's less than a quarter of my story ideas have enough going for them to write, A number of previous story ideas, say POTC fics, have been reabsorbed into a bigger story. I think at least three or four went into Hoist the Colours alone. A couple have been pushed into The Brothers of Ba Sing Se, such as Toph's adventures after the war. I liked the idea of her being a mostly lone ranger like Vampire D or Batman.

One very good piece of advice that Kenneth Oppel gave me years ago is that you have to pick the stories that will pan out and then stick with them. Those that rate a 3 definitely can be written through and through and are more than just silly daydreams but even I know that it doesn't take much to change this any of the remainder into 3s with enough research.