Probably the biggest difference is found in the plots. One of my professors used to say that a long story with a single plot was just a short story that needed to be edited.

Yeah, this is one of the problems I have, because I think in terms of what is absolutely necessary to tell this story. If a word is unnecessary, I cut it out. Adding in things not needed to serve the story's purpose feels utterly unnatural and wasteful and wrong.

And often I don't care about the B plots of many novels/shows because I feel like they're getting in the way.

But I don't think they're as, well, clear as you're making it out. Take Storm Front for example. Aside from Morgan hassling Dresden (which accounted for what, 3 scenes?) the entire thing is focused on Finding out/Tracking Down/Taking Out the bad guy. There's no B plot.

Difficulty in writing more mainstream fiction or difficulty in generating interest from mainstream publishers, if you don't mind me asking?

The latter. I've had several horror stories rejected so far. Also, I tried to put together an anthology, but small press publishers either don't do anthologies or only work with in-house editors; the publishers I'm used to dealing with have no editors on staff, so they're far more willing to work with outsiders.

But I'm also having trouble in terms of conceptualizing - I'm asking for help on that over here.

To those who plot/outline: How do you find and outline/plot ideas that are Big enough for a novel?

I write very, very short stories - 2,000-4,000 is where I operate best - but this is frustrating me. I'd rather write books.

The problem is that a story is only as long as it needs to be, and anything I come up with doesn't need to be a novel. My thinking is on too small a scale; anything I come up with can be told in a tight space. How do I think on a novel's scale? How do you work out ideas that have a lot of moving parts, that require a lot of steps that necessitate at least 90K words?

What I really want is to make a series, but I can't even try to tackle a series until I figure out how to think on a single book's terms.

AHHA.

It's on page 145, in a sidebar titled "Freeholding Lords". The reason I couldn't find it is because it was on the same page as Ferrovax.

I'm having a disagreement with another person who's just now reading the RPG.

They want to know if the Laws apply to psychic abilities (Specifically Domination and reading thoughts) that are not spells but, by their definition, "something a psychic could do". They are arguing that Domination isn't strictly a Magic Spell, therefore it isn't in the purview of the Council.

This person specifically said there's no proof the Council polices Minor Talents, because "Minor talents are described as those with diluted supernatural bloodlines or items of power that grant them one or two supernatural abilities. Not spellcasting."

Alright, I'm looking at two powers (Feeding Dependency and Blood Drinker/Emotional Vampire).

Feeding Dependency explains everything with regards to Feeding Dependency. Emotional Vampire/Blood Drinker explains everything as far as those powers go (except that Emotional vampire doesn't mention doing stress or how to defend against it, etc, just explains the attack).

But there's no mention of how these two interact.

For instance, let's say I have Feeding Dependency and my Hunger Track is full. I can't use my feeding powers to, well, get rid of that stress. The only section that mentions Feeding is the Failure Recovery. Which is just a handwave of 'You're out of these scenes, you recover'.  Because the only way to remove the Hunger stress is to 1) succeed at the roll after a scene, 2) accept consequences and then heal them, or 3) wait til you go into Failure Recovery. Shouldn't I be able to remove Hunger stress by actually using the feeding powers?

As far as Emotional Vampire is concerned, you just make attacks (and get better at them) and if you kill a target you can get a free recovery period to clear a Minor consequence.

In fact it spells out that if you take feeding dependency you must take these powers. But what are you getting for that -1 to refresh? An additional +1 to rolls (and if you kill the option of removing a mild stress)?

What am I missing?

Thanks everyone. I will make the character pitch of the changeling and the toadie to the GM. If he says no to the changeling, I may need assistance with the toadie. But again, thanks.

The discussion of how to cram things mechanically into such a small place is helpful. Also sets the stage for higher level stuff.

I think I'll keep the Soldier in my pocket for a more high-powered game. He's more suited to go ass-kicking monsters anyhow.