Yvonne, I don't think you're alone in the amount of time you spend on research. Look at the FFQ posts that are on these boards. I'm on several email loops for writers and every day someone is asking for info on this, that or the other. A few days ago someone needed to know about genetic illnesses that would be apparent at birth and fatal within 5 years. Someone else wanted to know about US marriage law. Readers are notorious about wanting their facts correct. I read a book a year or so ago where the protagonist was a successful 28 year old architect. I immediately thought "NO WAY!" And why did I think that? My son is getting ready to graduate from architecture school in May. It's a 5 year program which means the average student will graduate at age 23 (my son will be almost 26 when he finishes -- he started school a year late due to a late birthday and then co-opped his last two years of college to get experience). Then there's a 3 year internship before you can sit for your boards. That puts you at 26 when you take the exams. Even if you took and passed them all at once (which is highly unlikely) you'd still not likely be successful in the generally accepted definition of the term by age 28. So the greatest plot in the world may fail you if you write that your heroine flies into Paris's Heathrow Airport.
That Snowflake Process site might help you, Yvonne. It appears to me to be more "A plot" oriented. But whether plot or character driven, a story will still progress through the stages of backstory, turning points, black moment and resolution.
