Whenever I start a new jQuery plugin I always find myself rebuilding the whole plugin. Here's some example code that's just a copy+paste away from becoming a new contribution to my favorite JS framework! Simply grab the code below and paste it into your plugin file (PLUGIN_NAME.jquery.js):

jQuery.fn.PLUGIN_NAME = function(o) {
 
 // Defaults
 var o = jQuery.extend( {
 var1: 'some_variable',
 var2: 'some_variable',
 var3: 'some_variable'
 },o);
 
 $(this).each(function(){
 // Perform actions on item here
 });
 
};

That's all there is to it.  Define your variables and build your function in the $(this).each... section (or kill it and only apply it to one item - it's your plugin. You call the passed in (or default) variables using - for example - "o.var1".

For beginners out there - you would then call this plugin by including the plugin as per usual then calling it and applying those variables...

$('#SOME_ITEM').PLUGIN_NAME({
 var1: 'custom_variable_setting',
 var2: 'custom_variable_setting',
 var3: 'custom_variable_setting'
});