Plotbunny dilemma.

[amanuensis1]

Arrgh, this is tricky. I'm working on my potential plot suggestions for my merry_smutmas requests, and the problem is that my desired-to-read post-DH plotbunnies are also those I'd like to write. What do you think? If I request a plotbunny that I also want to write myself, will that kill my desire to write it in the end? And if a fic like that is written by someone else will it seem copycattish if I go on and write another one?

Comments

[persephone-blue.livejournal.com]

No. I think that the version you write and the version another person may write will be different enough. More fanfic is always good, imho.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I can't argue with the "more fanfic is good" logic, certainly!

[persephone-blue.livejournal.com]

Hee hee.

But yes, I think whatever you come up with will differ enough.

[christwise.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be a complete and utter dork by quoting (or at least paraphrasing) you.

Didn't you say on Slashcast that no two stories will ever be the same? I doubt it'll be an issue.

And that's some interesting music you've got going there.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*giggles over your icon*

Oh, you sweet thing, that's not dorky at all. Or if it is it's the kind of dorky that gets to me. I think your logic is the simplest and most likely to be true, too.

Yeah, this is some really pretty Chinese music on the classical station! Wish they'd played more.

[influ-bad-ence.livejournal.com]

God I love that icon, that little avatar is soooo annoying. I want that icon! Love it.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

I can see it going either way. :/ On the one hand, story "ideas" are six a penny and what actually matters is what you do with said idea. The execution is what's important and only baby writers whine about people Stealing My Ideas OMG!!! Which means that a reasonable person, who's been around the writing block a few times, will also understand that if you write your own story based on a three-line plot bunny you submitted to a fest, you're not cheating them or stealing their ideas of how they wrote it or anything like that.

On the other hand, fan writers aren't always that reasonable when it comes to the sanctity of one's OMGIdeas!!! Look at the huge kerfuffle whenever the subject of remixing without explicit permission comes up.

And on the third hand, I could see even a reasonable writer, if they're a bit unsure of themself, feeling like anything you write yourself based on the idea you gave them is likely to "show them up," just because you're Amanuensis and everything you write rocks truckloads of socks. So even if there's not a copycat sort of feeling, there might well be a, "Well, why did I even bother if she was going to write that, which is so much better than mine?" feeling.

That looks like two possibilities of miffedness and/or hurt feelings and only one possibility of the person being perfectly cool with it.

I think it comes down to your own reading of the group and what you think is likely, knowing the people involved. For myself, I agree with persephone_blue that there shouldn't be any problems, that your version will be very different from anyone else's and more fic is always a goodness. But no matter that it should be okay, I've got a few alarm bells ringing about this sort of situation because if fans were always rational there wouldn't be any kerfuffles or wanking. :P

Angie

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

How complicated this all gets, if we let it! I think what I'm hearing from you and from other wise people like you is that if the plotbunny in question is too specific it might produce some odd feelings, but that if it's general enough no one will even pay attention. So I will have to look at it in that light and proceed with just a little bit of care. ^_^

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

That's another factor too, of course. [nodnod] The amount of detail will make quite a lot of difference, since of course one can find dozens of stories in pretty much any active fic fandom which all fit the same general plot description. If you submit a bunny at that level of generality then it should be OK. Of course, "should" is always a slippery word when dealing with human beings and doubly so among fans [wry smile] but if you get general enough then it shouldn't be worth worrying about.

Angie

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

I would say it's absolutely okay. I always request things of other people that I think I would like to write (often because I just can't be bothered at the time or because I just want to proliferate the topic), and often I'm amazed at what others see in the scenario that I didn't. Sometimes it makes me so satisfied that I feel no need to elaborate; sometimes it's cool, but not quite the mark I was looking to hit, and then I go cheerfully off to remix and/or simply take the plot bunny back and do it my way.

Where's the harm? There's just more goodness for everyone.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

And I think that if the "not quite the mark" is the result, the re-approach of the plotbunny is usually so different that no one pays attention. It's probably just me worrying about these things too freakily! *loves your icon*

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

IS there a scenario you're least likely to write, even if you very much want to? ... I have so many plot bunnies since DH - dark and crazy and wonderful. The odds of me finding the time to write them all, however, are nil. By the time I get round to it, everyone else will have done the same story and it'll be a cliche already :p!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

God, you're right--everyone will have done everything by the time I get there. What am I worrying about. ^_^ As long as I don't make things too specific I don't think it will be even noticed, heh.

[ibycus.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on how specific the request is, but I always find it fascinating when different writers take on the same prompt, because we get to see how differently people think about things. So I say, go for it!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I think it probably does depend on how specific it is! I'll keep that in mind when I make the requests. ^_^

[violet_quill]

I often have that problem, too!

Though the problem I have more often is: I want to RECEIVE the things that I usually write and don't get to read as much (i.e. Percy, Tonks, humor, Remus-shags-everyone), but I'd rather WRITE something that challenges me and that people aren't going to guess is me right away (darker fic, snarry, complicated plots). And usually the want/give is sort of conflated in fest requests.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, yiii, if I worried about the "will they guess it's me?" aspect I'd have even more headaches. I admire you being able to juggle even more concerns! :D

[influ-bad-ence.livejournal.com]

Okay, this from a girl, that loves the clique story lines, bond and veela ectera... I read somewhere that no idea is ever new, which I agree with, but there are limitless numbers of versions. I don't think requesting a fic you'd also like to write will, take away your will to write it, in my experiance it has helped me in the past, when I have gotten into corners, I will read a fic like mine, see the different angles that have been taken, and think about ways I want to change things and then I am back to writing again, so in short I say go for it!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Cliches are huge amounts of fun, and they reinforce the "no bad plots, only bad stories" idea to the point where they challenge a writer, I think. Thanks for ringing in with that!

[marginaliana]

I think it depends on the complexity of the bunny, to be honest.

If your bunny is (to use my own reading/writing desires here as an example), "the sorting hat is evil," or "Snape isn't human - he's a homunculus," then I think you can get away with requesting it and possibly writing it - the idea is rich enough to support multiple interpretations and variations (although I agree with one of the commenters that some may feel your work outdoes what they created for you - always a problem I feel when writing for a recipient who I believe is very talented. But I wouldn't be mad about it, just sad).

On the other hand, if your bunny is something more specific, like "Snape and Lupin travel to the US to look for "the rainbow connection" which is actually a spell or method for destroying horcruxes," then a) I think getting it would kill your desire to write it (it might not be quite right, but it'd be close enough that I know I'd feel like I didn't have enough more to say), and b) it'd be kind of rude to write it yourself anyway after the fact, because it might be seen as saying (even if you didn't mean it to), that you thought what you received wasn't good enough.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

because it might be seen as saying (even if you didn't mean it to), that you thought what you received wasn't good enough.

There's a whole other aspect of the problem! You're wise to point it out. ^_^ Yeah, I think that the best point to take from these very sensible responses is to ask oneself how specific it is. Nobody's going to be upset by multiple "Post-epilogue Harry/Draco" fics but six of "the rainbow connection horcrux-destroyer," yeah, that might give them pause. ^_^

[ruthannereid.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I just want to see something with poor dead Severus that gives him a decent ending for ONCE. Or maybe not-dead. Or maybe...

Ignore me. *mourns favorite character*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

No, I gotcha, I do. So we should all just request "Happy ending Snape-centric fic" for all future fests, right? Hey, I wouldn't mind! ^_^

[ruthannereid.livejournal.com]

*DIES* You're quoting the Robot Chicken. *loves your icon*

And yes, I just don't know how the poor guy can GET a happy ending. It's not like he'd get Lily. You know what he needs? Some sort of spirit journey to get the hell over her and away from all the manipulators *coughDumbledorecough* and on with his... erm, after life. Or something. XD

And I know if he ever heard that Harry's kid had been named after him, he'd choke himself.

[bridgetmc.livejournal.com]

Some sort of spirit journey to get the hell over her and away from all the manipulators *coughDumbledorecough* and on with his... erm, after life. Or something.

I would very much read that fic. >_>

[ruthannereid.livejournal.com]

So would I, if it was IC. XD

[ruthannereid.livejournal.com]

*snerk* What am I saying, Robot Chicken. MALFOY IS NOT ORANGE. I realized that two seconds after I posted, but then I had to run to work. Ah well. XD

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

I can't keep from writing my plot bunnies down. As much as I wish someone else would do it for me, I end up doing it myself, and then I get exactly what I want. It's all very selfish, you know. *g*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

It IS. Except if it's done nicely it all works out to everyone's satisfaction, and we all get fic. ^_^

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

That's a tough one, but I'd say you should make the request broad enough so that it would be unlikely that you and another author would interpret it in the same way.

I doubt it would kill your desire to write it in the end -- if you have a way of handling the story that would get your creativity flowing, you'll still have that if someone writes a similar story.

Personally, I think you should run a whole ficathon with the prompt. Heee, okay, maybe not. But it'd be very cool to see what a number of different people might do even though they began at the same starting point/with the same inspirational fodder.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think you should run a whole ficathon with the prompt.

I've seen it done! And I love it, personally; the results are so varied! So, yeah, that's a really good point. ^_^

[estioe.livejournal.com]

I say...write what you want, my dear! Honestly, when all this calms down, there's going to be a bunch of "Snape is not really dead!" and "Harry brings Snape back with the Resurrection Stone!" and "Snape had drank anti venom before he was attacked!" fics. The story general idea may be the same, but no two stories are really the same. Look at all those bonding fics! *pets them*

And dude, I have sooo many plot bunnies. I have a few that have already been written, and I don't want to write them because, like you, don't want to be copying another story, but I so want to write my own renditions! Oh, I don't know. It's always so hard.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

God, yes. One of them actually does involve the resurrection stone and not much else as far as details, and it's not like I have exclusive rights to that plot element!

[aiji-yuywell.livejournal.com]

Writing a plot-bunny someone else has written or you have read isn't copycattish because there's no way someone would write a story similar to one you'd come up with. You are delightfully original! Plus, it's fun to see someone else's twist on an idea.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Hee, besides the compliment (thanks for it!), I think there's general truth in what you say. Everyone comes up with different takes even on specific plotbunnies.

[satanbaker.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk2dIXlL-pg

I have a benign and an ulterior with this link.

First off, homgsoffle. The posturing! The cravats! The eyeliner! THE LEGS! When I watched this, I was going in my head 'It's like an Ama fic come to life!'

Secondly, the ulterior motive would be... I require a climax. (that sounds so dirty) But, like. The show has time limits for each routine, and the song obviously cut off before you got to it's climax, so you had all of this amazing tension and then.. it just... ended...

So, when I had the realisation that they make a pretty convincing Draco / Blaise... I was like '! MAYBE I CAN PLANT A PLOTBUNNY!'

I like sharing plotbunnies.

So, uh. Um. You'd like, completely make my day. It could be like, 100 words long. But I know what you can do with a 100 words.

And in any case... just, dude.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, my GOD, that was AMAZING. It was the definition of sex, I swear--and yet, one of the things I found interesting is that it trod carefully away from being "too gay" for any homophobes out there. Which didn't decrease my enjoyment of it at all, I LOVED IT TO PIECES! Seriously, if I had not got to see this my life would not have been as rich. I am SO. FREAKING. HAPPY. that you linked this!

Have to see if the plotbunnies do come. But in the meantime, yes. Just, DUDE.

[satanbaker.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy you enjoyed! I thought you would, but I'm so glad to see this response! *waves hands* Even if a bunny doesn't find you, I'll still be happy just to know I shared something with someone they so enjoyed. :D