Picking Up Plot Bunnies

Sometimes the blank page dares you to start anything and sometimes inspiration just gets dropped right in your lap. When I'm not writing I train horses and teach riding lessons. Most of my students are young children just starting out. With the slow beginning work often comes lots of chatter. The kids like to tell me about anything and everything while I try to get a word in about their position as we head down the trails. Some of them hardly even stop to take a breath.

Their rambling runs the gamut from a stream of consciousness recap of their day at school. Class is boring... a boy threw a spoon at me at lunch... we had a substitute so we got to watch a movie. I do my best to steer the conversation back to our lesson, but it doesn't always work right away. Others drop some oversharing bombshells. So and so doesn't live with us anymore because Mommy stopped loving him... I only have random cash because Mom was sleeping and the money box is under her bed... I did have a brother but my sister never got to meet him. [for the sake of my students privacy some of these are made up, although all fit with the type of stories I get – I wouldn't be surprised to hear any of these.]

They always cut off right near the most interesting parts to go on another tangent and you cant ask a seven year old for elaboration. But I file away some of those strange details, they make for excellent scenario builders. A few have even made it into stories already. The best fiction is that which sits closely to reality.

What surprising places do you find your plot bunnies? Are they nesting with mine just outside our riding ring?