Dear General-You Fanbeing,

For the love of whatever deity you happen to find most appealing, learn to tell the difference between a plotbunny and a daydream!

I know, it can sometimes be a little difficult to tell the two apart. Both are fuzzy balls of love that capture your attention and make you the ficcer want to coo. Both are, to your mind, equally fascinating, and the fantasy is every bit as deserving of your time and attention - because if it wasn't it would hardly be a very interesting fantasy - as the plotbunny is.

But only one of them will make a decent story.

True, there can be overlaps. The cute bubble of fuzz that is your private fantasy can, with a little care and attention, a new haircut and a discreet genetic fix here and there, breed an entire warren's worth of pedigree plotbunnies. It's not impossible. In fact, depending on the fantasy, it can be pretty easy. But sometimes all the TLC and grooming in the world won't turn a decent daydream into an equally appealing story. There's nothing the matter with that. It just means that you probably shouldn't post the fruits of several hours spent staring into space with your eyes glazed over and a happy little grin on your face to Ye Olde Pit O' Porn (when it gets its act together again, that is).

Really, fanperson, fantasize about what you want. My current fandom-specific fantasy is getting me through the night wonderfully, but (rather to my own frustration) it would make an absolutely lousy fic because it comes hand in hand with more OOC, plot contrivance and general badfic moments than words can express, and would make anyone who read it WTF and reach for the back button pretty sharp-like. Doesn't stop it being a perfectly decent fantasy, but kind of precludes it from spawning plot bunnies that are anything other than entirely hideous.

My daydreams do not have to make sense to anybody but me. My fanfiction should make sense to total strangers. My daydreams can be as OOC as I like. My fanfiction should be as IC as I can manage.

Please try not to get dreams and plot bunnies confused. Both you and your readers will be a lot happier as a result.

Post inspired by my recent spate of SchuKen thoughts, and cross-posted from fanficrants.