Starting a new-ish project

I made a short story a few months ago (up all night on the eve of April 1st) and now I want to expand it into something larger. But I don't exactly know where to go with it. My initial thought was to make it a romance (still a newbie at it but it wouldn't be my first) but, like the other one, I want it to have a plot in the forefront. I've got an idea for a mystery that actually ties into the romance, but I don't know if that's taking on too much for one story...

I'm by no means an author but I do creative writting in my free time... which is all the time.... besides the point. I'd suggest plotting it out a bit. Like consider what your options are and where those will take the story. Whichever seems more interesting to you you should try. If you dont like where its going set it aside and try a different direction. Theres no loss for trying and experimenting. You might find you're better at some things than others or you enjoy certain things more. Most of all you should write because you enjoy it. Now if you want advice on certain topics you might have to give some details but Id suggest not saying too much because the passion to write is internal and once you tell the story to someone, often that flame dies down and you lose the desire to write what you had trapped in your mind so long. Sorry if I went off on a tangent there. I hope this helps if even a little.

My problem is having too much plot, too much backstory, and far too many explanations in my story. I've writen 100 pages and i haven't reached the "disaster" that starts the story yet :P I fear readers would get bored, but even with 100 pages the story is still too packed, soo many things happening at the same time that i have no idea how to deal with them. In 1 banquet i must introduce about 15 characters, and they are ALL important for the story and MUST be there :P And that's just part of the plot... If i continue the story this way, it'll have above 8.000 pages, being optimistic

Haha that's almost a good problem! Something I'm thinking to do is turn this into a series of short stories so main characters get their own smaller sections to develop. In terms of plot and theme, I've decided to make it more of a slice of life, coming of age story. Romance will come later, although that marks the halfway point! (at least in terms of the period of time the story covers which is around 8-ish years)

Hey String! I'm writing a similar story that also started as a short story (but with too much info for a short story). A coming of age story sounds good to me. ^.^ Take it one chapter at a time, and you'll find what works soon enough. I look forward to hearing more about it.