But reading old fics in the name of research can be very helpful! Sometimes it provides real and meaningful inspiration. I think that's one reason busy fandoms are easier to write for than small/inactive fandoms: you have so much less to react against.

Sometimes I think it's actually less trouble to go ahead and write the long version of something than to try to convince it to come in at a shorter length. Maybe if you gave it permission to be a monster, that would help?

Not that this approach is doing me any good, just at present. But in my own case, I have a dreadful feeling that the problem is a species of stage fright: I like the idea too much, and I'm horribly afraid that there's no way the story's going to live up to it.