steve said -

I like to think of writing as collapsing a probability wave: until it's

written, it's potentially many stories; only by actually writing it can

you find out which one.

That is an excellent way of describing it. You want to actualise it, but

that is simultaneously a reduction of the limitless possibilities to one

actuality, so it is always a loss.

Alison

You two are spot on-- but that's why I *don't* write it down unless I want to show it to *someone*. I love the feeling that all possibilities are open for the characters.