Snoopy and Bilbo Baggins on Writing

I remember a cartoon from my childhood called The Snoopy Musical. I used to watch it all of the time (it was on the same tape as Mary Poppins and a cartoon about bears cleaning a park). In this cartoon Snoopy sits on his dog house with a typewriter and starts: "It was a dark and stormy morning... No, a dark and stormy night, Night? Night. A suddenly a" something something... The song is called "The Great Writer."

I'm not complaining, but I am a little envious. After all, Snoopy could at least think up a great first line. The best I can come up with is "Once upon a time..." before I get stuck. Bilbo Baggins would say that it is none the worse for having been used before and that the important thing is to have an ending, "Books ought to have good endings." I, like Frodo, must reply that the ending "will do well, if it ever comes to that."

I can relate to Frodo, I can't see the end of my journey either. I outlined the plot of my novel this evening and when I got to the end I introduced a character. A main character. I didn't mean to, it just happened. I don't know if you know anything about writing novels, but apparently, you're not supposed to do that. Now I have to write in a sub-plot that introduces the character much earlier in the story.

(By the way, I stole my plot from another story, but let's just keep that between you and me.)