DRAGONS. PLOT DRAGONS. Which squiggle.

I don't have plot bunnies. I have plot dragons.

They're infinitely more difficult to find and MUCH harder to catch - there's that whole they might fry you to a crisp and eat you thing. Or that disembowel you with a claw and eat you raw thing, if they're in the mood for rare.

I have SO MUCH TROUBLE with plots. I have to sort of come at them sideways or they squiggle around (yes, that's a word). If I grab them by one part, they go all silly putty on me and squish out and then go reform a few feet away and laugh at me.

Okay, those metaphors are totally different and don't really make any sense, but the point is there. That point being that I needed to find a new way to think about plots.

It's all about conflict.

Well, um, yeah, you say, or actually you probably don't because you're very articulate and don't stoop to the use of such words. This is obvious, you say.

Yeah, well, it took me a while. Even after reading all these wonderful blog posts and articles and other assorted pearls of wisdom it didn't really sink in. It took one - ahem- interesting practice novel and some time to reflect before it really hit me.

Goals. Obstacles. Conflict. OH!

I'm sorry, I'm not usually this slow. Please, bear with me.