So, I am writing a novel. Or trying to, anyway. And I have issues with plot. Most of my novel attempts have rambled tunelessly for 70 pages before I got disgusted with them and gave up.  My problem was that I was going off a dream I had or an idea that could carry a short story, but not a book.  A long work of fiction requires many happenings, events, and conflicts.  I realized I needed to have some of these figured out before embarking on a sincere attempt at a novel. For Derrydown, I started with the Snowflake Method created by Randy Ingermanson.  I have never read an Ingermanson book, but I found his instructions for creating ambitious works of fiction very intriguing. This…