Some Stories Require Research and Planning - Comments

I agree with musical sneakers. At the end, I was all like,

"And this shall be the smartest tutorials of tutorials!" ;D

You should post this as a tutorial :)

I know what you mean. I honestly don't understand how some writers can write on the fly of things. I always have to plan my story out ahead of time or at least have a good idea of a beginning, middle, and an end. If I don't, I end up running into dead ends.
Research is important, especially on topics you don't usually write about or experience on your own.

More people need to think about this stuff. I've stopped with stories for now until I can construct an outline of what I want so I always know where the story is going. An outline can be simple or elaborate, but it's always useful. You don't have to make it "standard," you can make your own kind, whatever fits your needs and style.