How Does Your Story Unfold?

[SteelSaurus]

Question, because this is a perpetual headache for me. I see my stories as though they're reality and it's up to me to describe them and put them into print. The problem is that it's not like a play (with a script or lines) or a movie (that has a storyboard that dictates the action), the action just happens. I'm like a stenographer trying to transcribe every detail of every second.

I've said elsewhere, the problem isn't that I have writers block, it's that I have every detail of every possible event. I know what happens if Neo takes the red pill, I know what happens if Neo takes the blue pill. I know what happens if Neo leaves the room taking neither. I know what happens if Neo knocks out Morpheus and takes both. I know what happens if Neo pretends to take the red pill, hides it in his mouth and disperses the contents through the local water supply. All of them different. All of them interesting.

And I see events out of order. I see the alternate ending to part two before I’ve seen part one. So I start writing part one to get to part two’s alternate ending, and stumble across the correct ending.

…How do I stop this?

 

[Sebastian_Plz]

Question, because this is a perpetual headache for me. I see my stories as though they're reality and it's up to me to describe them and put them into print. The problem is that it's not like a play (with a script or lines) or a movie (that has a storyboard that dictates the action), the action just happens. I'm like a stenographer trying to transcribe every detail of every second.

I've said elsewhere, the problem isn't that I have writers block, it's that I have every detail of every possible event. I know what happens if Neo takes the red pill, I know what happens if Neo takes the blue pill. I know what happens if Neo leaves the room taking neither. I know what happens if Neo knocks out Morpheus and takes both. I know what happens if Neo pretends to take the red pill, hides it in his mouth and disperses the contents through the local water supply. All of them different. All of them interesting.

And I see events out of order. I see the alternate ending to part two before I’ve seen part one. So I start writing part one to get to part two’s alternate ending, and stumble across the correct ending.

…How do I stop this?

That's actually a pretty unique way to see things. I myself analyze the shit out of things, but when it comes to an event, I usually approach it by focusing just on the single event itself, not the full 'story.'

My point is, basically, instead of seeing Neo take Red/Blue/None/etc why not just start on how Neo got into the room? Write that and then approach the next part....what pill does Neo take? You're the writer so there is no wrong answer, but attack the outline on a piece by piece basis. Use the top-down approach that you described when you are outlining how all the different sub stories will come together or that you wish to see occur. If you look at my stories I have chapters all over the place. That's by design. I don't know the full novella I want to write her, but I do know aspects or settings that I wish to incorporate/utilize. When its all done and composed, regardless of the order of completion, I can link it all together during the editing portion.

Hopefully that helps somewhat....if not....um.....yea, just write what aspects you wish to pursue. Sometimes I want pizza, chicken, and a burger for dinner...doesn't mean I have to eat all three, you know?

 

[oggbashan]

How to stop it?

Write out the plot outline. You could include a diagram of the various possibilities branching BUT when you have all the alternatives listed - Choose a route to the ending and stick to it.

I would do it freehand on a piece of paper. This is an attempt in a post:

Situation 1: Hero's girlfriend (or potential girlfriend) is being abducted.

Hero can do A tackle the villains without checking behind him or B checks for further villains, disarms the man behind him, but is delayed.

If A then he is injured and can't rescue the girl at this point. He has to get treated for his injury and then go looking for the girl.

If B then he is not injured and can continue to chase the villains but they get away and he still has to look for the girl.

So both A and B lead to a search.

Situation 2: Hero gets a clue to the girl's location.

Alternative C. It's a trap. Hero is injured (first time if from B, second time if from A). He has to recover and search again.

Alternative D. The information is out-of-date. Girl and abductors were there but have gone. Back to searching.

And so on for 30 pages.

BUT before you start writing, decide whether the route to the finish is A then C, or B then D. Delete the unused routes.

The finish? Hero defeats/captures villains and gets girl.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

No one likes to plot ahead of time, so plot afterwards; then correct the plot your story contains. Remove the boring, goofy shit, and patch.

 

[StrangeLife]

...I have every detail of every possible event. I know what happens if Neo takes the red pill, I know what happens if Neo takes the blue pill. I know what happens if Neo leaves the room taking neither. I know what happens if Neo knocks out Morpheus and takes both. I know what happens if Neo pretends to take the red pill, hides it in his mouth and disperses the contents through the local water supply. All of them different. All of them interesting...

Maybe consider changing your handle to "Muad'Dib"...

 

[SteelSaurus]

That's actually a pretty unique way to see things. I myself analyze the shit out of things, but when it comes to an event, I usually approach it by focusing just on the single event itself, not the full 'story.'

My point is, basically, instead of seeing Neo take Red/Blue/None/etc why not just start on how Neo got into the room? Write that and then approach the next part....what pill does Neo take? You're the writer so there is no wrong answer, but attack the outline on a piece by piece basis. Use the top-down approach that you described when you are outlining how all the different sub stories will come together or that you wish to see occur. If you look at my stories I have chapters all over the place. That's by design. I don't know the full novella I want to write her, but I do know aspects or settings that I wish to incorporate/utilize. When its all done and composed, regardless of the order of completion, I can link it all together during the editing portion.

Hopefully that helps somewhat....if not....um.....yea, just write what aspects you wish to pursue. Sometimes I want pizza, chicken, and a burger for dinner...doesn't mean I have to eat all three, you know?

I understand you completely. It's just for me, one snap-snot in time is an entire album. And it gives me a headache to try to explain it because it's like asking me to describe the universe from beginning to end in smallest detail, in one word. Like, I not only know all the possibilities of what happens to Neo, but also to Morpheus, and the pills, both of them. Back to their manufacture. I can write a story about the manufacturing of a red pill and a blue pill, and it's crippling. I say this facetiously but I must quote, "This is what omniscience feels like without the filter." Heck, they don't call it the omniscient point-of-view for nothing. In my stories, background characters have backgrounds. It's frustrating. It's really frustrating. I can tell you evens that happen to them 20 years ago, I can tell you what happened to their parent 40 years ago, it takes all my effort to stop before it gets to grandparents...

For me, writers blocks is when EVERYTHING wants to be written at once, and I can't choose just one. (For example, a current story I'm writing; it began as a simple, girl flirting with multiple guys, but there can only be one scenario. I've now developed the entire town. The town! The town is not important! The community dynamics are not important! The age demographics are not important! And I kid you not, I have detailed all of them.

On my pizza? Yes, I'll have hamburger meat and chicken chunks, thank you kindly.

 

[SteelSaurus]

How to stop it?

Write out the plot outline. You could include a diagram of the various possibilities branching BUT when you have all the alternatives listed - Choose a route to the ending and stick to it.

I would do it freehand on a piece of paper. This is an attempt in a post:

Situation 1: Hero's girlfriend (or potential girlfriend) is being abducted.

Hero can do A tackle the villains without checking behind him or B checks for further villains, disarms the man behind him, but is delayed.

If A then he is injured and can't rescue the girl at this point. He has to get treated for his injury and then go looking for the girl.

If B then he is not injured and can continue to chase the villains but they get away and he still has to look for the girl.

So both A and B lead to a search.

Situation 2: Hero gets a clue to the girl's location.

Alternative C. It's a trap. Hero is injured (first time if from B, second time if from A). He has to recover and search again.

Alternative D. The information is out-of-date. Girl and abductors were there but have gone. Back to searching.

And so on for 30 pages.

BUT before you start writing, decide whether the route to the finish is A then C, or B then D. Delete the unused routes.

The finish? Hero defeats/captures villains and gets girl.

Yes. Mine progression chart is a fractal.

START
Option A, B, or C
Option AA, AB, AC, BA, BB, BC, CA, CB, or CC
Option AAA, AAB, AAC...

You get my drift? Madness doesn't lie down that road, it gives guided tours.

But I honestly tried to do that once, for a short (short he says) multi-end option story. I have not made it to the second iteration. I started at 1, WENT BACK to 0, and am finally back on 1. I've got nearly 200 pages of unfinished works on my zip-drive that are suffering from this, with countless more on my actual computer.

 

[Handley_Page]

How to stop it?

Write out the plot outline. You could include a diagram of the various possibilities branching BUT when you have all the alternatives listed - Choose a route to the ending and stick to it.

I would do it freehand on a piece of paper. This is an attempt in a post:

Situation 1: Hero's girlfriend (or potential girlfriend) is being abducted.

Hero can do A tackle the villains without checking behind him or B checks for further villains, disarms the man behind him, but is delayed.

If A then he is injured and can't rescue the girl at this point. He has to get treated for his injury and then go looking for the girl.

If B then he is not injured and can continue to chase the villains but they get away and he still has to look for the girl.

So both A and B lead to a search.

Situation 2: Hero gets a clue to the girl's location.

Alternative C. It's a trap. Hero is injured (first time if from B, second time if from A). He has to recover and search again.

Alternative D. The information is out-of-date. Girl and abductors were there but have gone. Back to searching.

And so on for 30 pages.

BUT before you start writing, decide whether the route to the finish is A then C, or B then D. Delete the unused routes.

The finish? Hero defeats/captures villains and gets girl.

Thank you, Ogg.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I see mine as a movie or show on the T.V. There is a beginning, a middle and an end. Each have acts and scenes. Acts I treat as chapters. Scenes as scenes. It's all linear, by the time I start to type or write, all the branches have been resolved in my head to, I hope, provide an interesting tale for the reader.

 

[oggbashan]

How to stop it?

Write out the plot outline. You could include a diagram of the various possibilities branching BUT when you have all the alternatives listed - Choose a route to the ending and stick to it.


BUT before you start writing, decide whether the route to the finish is A then C, or B then D. Delete the unused routes.

...

Yes. Mine progression chart is a fractal.

START
Option A, B, or C
Option AA, AB, AC, BA, BB, BC, CA, CB, or CC
Option AAA, AAB, AAC...

You get my drift? Madness doesn't lie down that road, it gives guided tours.

But I honestly tried to do that once, for a short (short he says) multi-end option story. I have not made it to the second iteration. I started at 1, WENT BACK to 0, and am finally back on 1. I've got nearly 200 pages of unfinished works on my zip-drive that are suffering from this, with countless more on my actual computer.

I have marked in bold parts of my earlier post.

You need to make choices, and if the situation is as you describe, you need to make those choices at every stage.

My outline in my first post has closed loops. A or B get to the same place; C or D get to the same place.

But when I am writing a story, I KNOW the ending before I start to write. How I get from the beginning to the preset ending can vary, but every part of the plot helps get towards the end. If it doesn't, that part of the plot and story gets discarded.

If you want to write a multi-choice story, leaving it to the reader to choose how the story ends, then you do need to make sure all possibilities lead to one of a FEW endings. More than 4? You have made life too complicated for yourself.

I have written a multiple choice essay/story. All possibilities are covered, but all loops are closed. Have a look at: http://www.literotica.com/s/literotica-the-penalties

 

[PennLady]

I think in my head, my stories unfold pretty linearly. I may use flashbacks or something when I actually write them, but for the most part the events I think of for my stories usually fall into a line pretty easily.

Then again, I know that I am a person who tends to think pretty linearly in general, so that's probably why. Not that I can't go outside the box -- or stray from the line, as it were -- but my first thoughts usually line up my story.

And not that I won't change things if something isn't working, but I don't have all the possibilities in my head in the sense that I can't decide between them. If my hero goes somewhere, I will know already if it is a trap or not, likely because I have a later even that dictates what the previous one will be. But I'm always willing to consider or reconsider.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

^^^^^Of course stories unfold linearly, duh. Even schizophrenic word salad comes out one word at a time. Oh wait! 3113 can talk outta both sides of her mouth at the same time.

Never mind.

 

[SteelSaurus]

That's the thing. Stories are linear, but life is not. Their are thousands of unforeseen events that caused now to happen, which in turn can progress in a myriad of ways from there.

And even if I can reign a story into one ending, their are numerous paths to get their.

For example, I know I want to end with; The Hero Dies. Or even more specific, The Hero Defeats the Villain and Saves the Girl but Dies with a Spear in his Chest. Their are still thousands of ways for him to get shafted.

I just had a read of today's ZenPencils, and that's pretty much exactly what I'm going through. I can't pick one and they're all starting to sour.

I guess my question would be, once you have your end point in mind, how do you choose which routes are to be destroyed and which detours are necessary? Like, as the cross flies is all well and good, but I prefer the curves of the scenic route. How do you determine where to wander and where to buckle in and get on the autobahn?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

That's the thing. Stories are linear, but life is not. Their are thousands of unforeseen events that caused now to happen, which in turn can progress in a myriad of ways from there.

And even if I can reign a story into one ending, their are numerous paths to get their.

For example, I know I want to end with; The Hero Dies. Or even more specific, The Hero Defeats the Villain and Saves the Girl but Dies with a Spear in his Chest. Their are still thousands of ways for him to get shafted.

I just had a read of today's ZenPencils, and that's pretty much exactly what I'm going through. I can't pick one and they're all starting to sour.

I guess my question would be, once you have your end point in mind, how do you choose which routes are to be destroyed and which detours are necessary? Like, as the cross flies is all well and good, but I prefer the curves of the scenic route. How do you determine where to wander and where to buckle in and get on the autobahn?

Are you familiar with fugues? A fugue is one way to kinda render serial into parallel.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhRa3REdozw

Here's a Bach fugue. Same goddamned thing played 4 times in parallel but outta synch, but ends up in the same place at the end.

 

[SteelSaurus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhRa3REdozw

Here's a Bach fugue. Same goddamned thing played 4 times in parallel but outta synch, but ends up in the same place at the end.

Oh yes. I know it in the musical sense (I'm a violinist) but I'm not sure how that would work with writing.

 

[VeronicaGables]

Personally, I like to keep my stories relatively short, and I find that keeps me from wandering too much or going off on huge plot tangents. Try giving yourself a hard ceiling (for instance: I shoot for under 7000 words, typically), and see how much of a consistent, snappy story you can cram into those words. Writing short fiction forces you to be economical with your descriptions and branch-offs in the interest of serving up the full plot within the allotted amount of words!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Oh yes. I know it in the musical sense (I'm a violinist) but I'm not sure how that would work with writing.

Sure it would. Yuh gotta have 4 characters doing whatever separately but it all blends harmoniously and winds up at the same outcome.

Think sports or other competition or warring gangsters or whatever. Could be 4 women after the same man.

 

[oggbashan]

I guess my question would be, once you have your end point in mind, how do you choose which routes are to be destroyed and which detours are necessary? Like, as the cross flies is all well and good, but I prefer the curves of the scenic route. How do you determine where to wander and where to buckle in and get on the autobahn?

If you are writing a short story, say under 30,000 words, you need to be very economical with diversions from the main plot line. For even shorter stories you should not divert at all. The plot should be Beginning, Development/Interaction, Ending. I have written a How-To http://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-plot-flash-fiction for the extreme short stories that are only 50 words long.

For a full scale novel 300,000 to 500,000 words you can have multiple subplots, different characters interacting off the main plot line, but even then you need to bring them all together, resolving everything by the end.

If you prefer the curves of the scenic route, you should be writing a full length novel. For a short story you need to be far more direct and controlled with what you are writing.

 

[8letters]

My "Cycling Weekends with Sis" started when I saw the back of a fit, young woman riding a bike. I thought, "I would love to follow that for a long ride." Then I had the image of a group of friends jostling to get the position behind the woman on a long ride. This had to be the first time she took a long ride with this group of guys.

Hmmm, she would be sore after such a long ride. I could see her wanting a massage after such a long ride. The massage could be the gateway to seduction. At this point, I started having sketches of the main characters in my head. The outlines of the plot had begun to firm up - the ride would be at a bike rally and the seduction wouldn't be after the first massage. The first massage would be what gets the snowball rolling down the hill.

At this point, I started looking for answers to obvious plot holes. How could they have a room available right after a bike rally for a massage? They had gotten a hotel room for the weekend to explore a tourist trap. If they are both fit and good-looking, why aren't they dating other people? He's short and only wants to date fit woman and finds the competition for fit woman too steep. She has recently lost a lot of weight and hasn't returned to the dating scene.

By now, I had a number of key scenes laid out in my mind. These were "gates" that I needed to connect. Things were firm enough to start writing. I originally began the story with a sister complaining to her brother that she was fat and ugly. He then offered to train her to help her lose weight. I wrote quite a bit of the story and decided that that beginning sucked - she was a fat, whiny character that no one would like. I changed the story to start at a bike rally after she had lost weight and was fit.

I had decided he was heavily into cycling. I read a number of books and a magazine on cycling to expand my knowledge of the subject. From that, I had the raw material to expand out several scenes.

At this point, I had what I thought was a strong beginning, a strong ending and a few strong middle scenes. From there, it was a matter of connecting the dots from each of the gate scenes. I tried to write the connecting scenes to give more depth and interest to my main characters. I saved writing the sex scenes for last - they are the least interesting and most challenging things for me to write.

I sent the story out to two people for an initial review. Their comments were the backbone of my editing process. As I was editing the story, I cut the scene that had inspired the whole story. As I had done research on cycling, I realized that it just didn't work. It also didn't fit the story anymore.

To the OP, my suggestion is focus more on the characters and less on the plot. Compelling characters are what make a story. It's good to know multiple ways to write key scenes, but ultimately there is only one best way that fits your characters. Neo is only going to take the red pill - he wouldn't be a compelling character otherwise.

 

[SteelSaurus]

Personally, I like to keep my stories relatively short, and I find that keeps me from wandering too much or going off on huge plot tangents. Try giving yourself a hard ceiling (for instance: I shoot for under 7000 words, typically), and see how much of a consistent, snappy story you can cram into those words. Writing short fiction forces you to be economical with your descriptions and branch-offs in the interest of serving up the full plot within the allotted amount of words!

Trust me, it doesn't take me 7000 words to start wandering. I can get lost after 700 words.
To be honest, most of my stories cap out around the 5000 word mark anyway (they may or may not end up as a part of a series or over-arcing storyline) but out of the few stories I've completed, only one has exceed your self-imposed ceiling mark.

If you are writing a short story, say under 30,000 words, you need to be very economical with diversions from the main plot line. For even shorter stories you should not divert at all. The plot should be Beginning, Development/Interaction, Ending. I have written a How-To http://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-plot-flash-fiction for the extreme short stories that are only 50 words long.

For a full scale novel 300,000 to 500,000 words you can have multiple subplots, different characters interacting off the main plot line, but even then you need to bring them all together, resolving everything by the end.

If you prefer the curves of the scenic route, you should be writing a full length novel. For a short story you need to be far more direct and controlled with what you are writing.

Everybody writes so much; 30,000 words, 300,000 words, half a million words? That's more than all my writings put together (both the erotic and the chaste).

Though I think your 50 word story guide might help with cutting out the dilly dallying.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

That's the thing. Stories are linear, but life is not. Their are thousands of unforeseen events that caused now to happen, which in turn can progress in a myriad of ways from there.

And even if I can reign a story into one ending, their are numerous paths to get their.

For example, I know I want to end with; The Hero Dies. Or even more specific, The Hero Defeats the Villain and Saves the Girl but Dies with a Spear in his Chest. Their are still thousands of ways for him to get shafted.

I just had a read of today's ZenPencils, and that's pretty much exactly what I'm going through. I can't pick one and they're all starting to sour.

I guess my question would be, once you have your end point in mind, how do you choose which routes are to be destroyed and which detours are necessary? Like, as the cross flies is all well and good, but I prefer the curves of the scenic route. How do you determine where to wander and where to buckle in and get on the autobahn?

So when did you get your time machine?

Life is linear, it has been and always will be linear. You may have a series of choices to make in your life and you may wonder how different your life might have been if you made a different choice than the one you did, but life follows a linear line, just as time does. What might have been is irrelevant once you make the decision and time, like life, marches on.

 

[PennLady]

That's the thing. Stories are linear, but life is not. Their are thousands of unforeseen events that caused now to happen, which in turn can progress in a myriad of ways from there.

Well, true. But life is linear in the sense that this moment will be followed by another and another. And however many possibilities there were to get to this moment, or that moment, only certain ones happened. You can't go back to yesterday and try another path to get to today.

And even if I can reign a story into one ending, their are numerous paths to get their.

For example, I know I want to end with; The Hero Dies. Or even more specific, The Hero Defeats the Villain and Saves the Girl but Dies with a Spear in his Chest. Their are still thousands of ways for him to get shafted.

Maybe you need to know where you want to start as opposed to end. I usually have a starting point, a scene or an idea, and usually I know where I want to end up. My problem is filling in the middle.

We all think differently, so we all write our stories differently. I have a starting point and I go from there, and unlike you I don't get caught up in all the possible things that could happen. I don't know if I just shut it out, or what, but it's just not how my mind works.

My first were story started with this idea: a were was unable to shift and had been exiled from her family/pack/clan. Then various steps fell into place from there, and most of it came from what I wanted. I wanted her family to still love her, for example -- so she lived in the regular world with a woman who knew what she was. She overheard a conversation that intimated trouble for her pack, so she called her father, the man who had sent her away.

These were things I wanted to be in the story, so I made them fit. if something didn't fit, I tried to change it and if that didn't work, I dropped it and went for something else.

I think the basic thing is that you have to focus. You have to pick a step, then another, then another.

I just had a read of today's ZenPencils, and that's pretty much exactly what I'm going through. I can't pick one and they're all starting to sour.

I looked at that and had a different take. It's not that they're going sour, it's that she missed her opportunity. She spent so much time wondering that she missed out on everything -- even taking one and not liking it would have been better than losing them all.

I guess my question would be, once you have your end point in mind, how do you choose which routes are to be destroyed and which detours are necessary? Like, as the cross flies is all well and good, but I prefer the curves of the scenic route. How do you determine where to wander and where to buckle in and get on the autobahn?

Why not think of what you *want* to happen, instead of all that *could* happen? Do you want the guy to wear a red coat? Fine, he wears a red coat. Do you want him to do something else? Okay, he does it, and you can make your explanation fit.

I wish I could help more, but these are not problems I have while writing so I haven't had to think much about them. Occasionally, when I have been at a cross-roads, I think what I want to happen further on, and then I see which option works best for that and take it.

Mostly, I think you just have to pick.

 

[SteelSaurus]

So when did you get your time machine?

Life is linear, it has been and always will be linear. You may have a series of choices to make in your life and you may wonder how different your life might have been if you made a different choice than the one you did, but life follows a linear line, just as time does. What might have been is irrelevant once you make the decision and time, like life, marches on.

You do know that time isn't linear either right? The same way life isn't linear. One thing doesn't cause something else.

A 'Car Accident on Icy Road' has a number of factors that lead up to it. Hitting a patch of ice isn't enough. They need to skid. Turn the wrong way. Overcompensate. Panic. Their's a hundred different factors that lead up to the skid, coming from a variety of different plans.

 

[SteelSaurus]

Well, true. But life is linear in the sense that this moment will be followed by another and another. And however many possibilities there were to get to this moment, or that moment, only certain ones happened. You can't go back to yesterday and try another path to get to today.



Maybe you need to know where you want to start as opposed to end. I usually have a starting point, a scene or an idea, and usually I know where I want to end up. My problem is filling in the middle.

We all think differently, so we all write our stories differently. I have a starting point and I go from there, and unlike you I don't get caught up in all the possible things that could happen. I don't know if I just shut it out, or what, but it's just not how my mind works.

My first were story started with this idea: a were was unable to shift and had been exiled from her family/pack/clan. Then various steps fell into place from there, and most of it came from what I wanted. I wanted her family to still love her, for example -- so she lived in the regular world with a woman who knew what she was. She overheard a conversation that intimated trouble for her pack, so she called her father, the man who had sent her away.

These were things I wanted to be in the story, so I made them fit. if something didn't fit, I tried to change it and if that didn't work, I dropped it and went for something else.

I think the basic thing is that you have to focus. You have to pick a step, then another, then another.

Why not think of what you *want* to happen, instead of all that *could* happen? Do you want the guy to wear a red coat? Fine, he wears a red coat. Do you want him to do something else? Okay, he does it, and you can make your explanation fit.

I wish I could help more, but these are not problems I have while writing so I haven't had to think much about them. Occasionally, when I have been at a cross-roads, I think what I want to happen further on, and then I see which option works best for that and take it.

Mostly, I think you just have to pick.

Thank you kindly. I know too much physics, and science, and math to accept the linearity of life and the progression of time anymore. Who's know's if it's possible to pop over to 1987 for some groceries and have time to catch the 7:00 film in 2816. I know too much to go back... "Ignorance is bliss, for I am miserable."

My problem is that I get a point in my story, and I don't know where it came from. Is it the beginning? The end? The middle? The introduction? The conclusion? The epilogue? The prelude? Part II?
I remember writing something years back, during high school. A bit of a story with a prelude and a midpoint, but nothing to connect the two. No plot, no ending, no nothing. I had the main character, what happened before it began, and a small chunk of the middle. Only a few months ago, while I was writing a completely different story, did that other story fall into place. Suddenly the intro made sense, I had a plot-line, connections were made. The first story was a side-story that begins after the mid point of the second story (the events in this story happen before the first story) that leads into the remained of the first story. The second story's epilogue occurs around the first story's midpoint. Can you see how confusing this is? I pick up interesting threads wherever I go only to end up completely tangled. I twitch my finger and end up with my legs doing the Can-Can.

One issue with you last point is, sometimes what I want to happen, isn't what happens. Like I said somewhere before, for the most part I'm merely chronicling events. Like as though, these stories happened, and I'm given different portions of different parts of different stories at different times. It's like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle not only without a complete cover, and a few missing pieces, but with a few other puzzles thrown in. I find a piece, it doesn't fit. I try make it fit. It refuses. I throw it away. I then find a piece that with the previous, allows them both to fit. ...a different puzzle.
(What is this? Is this a part of this story? I don't know let's try it... it looks like it fits... hold on, this piece has two corners, and is double-sided! And this is a 3D puzzle piece. And none of them look anything like this 50 year old photograph of a sketch of a watercolor in an unlit room of a blind mans impressionist impression of half of the box top that was accidentally washed and bleached and partially burned. What's the title of this puzzle again; Keith Haring: Sextuple Retrospect, 'Even More Pieces'?)

So when you say, take it one step at a time, please understand that to me, it's like trying to get through a fun-house that looks like the lovechild of M.C. Escher, Salvador Dalí, and Bergholt S. Johnson.

Again, that you for trying to assist, and detailing your own thought process.