Which -- for the world in general -- is right out of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

The story is a thing.

And the filters of analytical tools--models of plot and structure, modes of analyses--are just ways of looking at it.

When a story just comes out right the first time, then analysis isn't necessary; all that is required is the ability to realise that you have a decent story on your hands and to leave well alone. The first story I sold was like that. After submitting a couple of fantasy novels and various SF short stories with no success, I just sat down one wet Sunday afternoon and wrote a short children's story about a pony. It sold first time.

But it's when the story is nearly (but not quite) right that the tools are useful. That's when you need ways of taking it apart and examining it from all angles. This is what I lacked when I was younger. I was an intuitive writer and have only in recent years learnt about the craft of writing and how to think in an analytical way. I sometimes get fits of the if onlys about it, but the one consoling thing about being a writer is that you're never too old to succeed.

The more I learn about fiction, the less I feel I can ever write it.