plot bunny

English

Alternative forms

• plotbunny

Etymology

From the metaphorical image of the writer's brain producing ideas with the abundance and speed with which rabbits are fabled to breed.

Noun

plot bunny (plural plot bunnies)

1. (informal) An idea for a story, usually referring to an author having more ideas than he or she can use.
   • 2003, Glatzer, Jenna, Outwitting Writer's Block: And Other Problems of the Pen, ISBN 1-59228-124-9, p. 99:

     "Alternatively," she [T.M. Taylor] says, "the plot bunnies may be going somewhere you don't want to go, like when the plot calls for the death of a favorite character"