Reflecting on writing

I find myself thinking about writing much more often than I actually do sit and write. Whenever I see something that impresses me I think "This is something I can use for my novel!". Sometimes when I relax and let my mind free I think of things that seem to me good ideas but if I try to reproduce them a few days later... they are gone.

An extremely great amount of details regarding plot, characters and the way one records these are present in a novel. Sometimes I wonder whether one should consciously try to "craft" a novel by creating blueprints and gathering slowly and carefully all the ingredients. Maybe writing is not so much of an art as it is a craft. On the other hand, I dont really enjoy reading novels that have been constructed in such a way. Aren't they artificial?

I have associated novels and stories with the wild imagination that entertained me as a child and teenager. Novels that have realistic elements are bound to disappoint me. It might be entertaining to read a modern thriller with historical and mystery elements but its not that, that will set me into a reading nirvana. I now realize that so far there have been two categories of books that have managed to fascinate me completely: books that deal with the occult and the supernatural, and ancient greek dramas. What do these two kinds have in common? I believe its fiction. Its the lack or realism. In the occult books the heros are in search of the greatest mysteries of the universe. In ancient greek dramas, the heros suffer and experience intense emotional situations through inner pain and the deadends that they find themself into.

To me the goal of creating a story is to allure the unsuspected reader or viewer (in theater). The goal is to kidnap the reader and lock him into the world of fantasy I have created. And when he thinks to exist there volluntarily, then I would have succeeded as a story-creator.

But then again, can we really create new stories? Haven't all stories been told so far? Is there something new to tell? Aren't stories filled with psychological archetypes that remain the same throughout the human existance? Thats true. However, stories are like music. There are only 7 musical notes but millions and billions of different melodies and musical pieces. A completely new combination of sounds is always possible. So maybe stories are more about combining elements than really creating them.