From Ideas to Story

"I've got so many ideas I just can't get them all down."

"The voices of my characters are in my head and I need to write to get them to be quiet."

I've read these statements on Twitter, on writing chat rooms, etc.  I'm not envious of these people, I'm amazed by them.  It's these kind of statements that make me wonder if I'm fooling myself into thinking I'm a writer.  I like to write, I enjoy writing, and I want to write stories that others will read and say 'wow'.  I know every writer does things a little bit differently, but do they all have ideas and creativity flowing all the time? 

And I don't have so many ideas that I can't get them all down.  I don't have voices in my head demanding to be put on paper.  Does that mean I don't have what it takes?  Maybe I'm not creative enough?  Is every writer bombarded by ideas and story lines all the time?

For example, here's the way my thoughts normally go.  I rarely start with a story idea.  I actually start by thinking that I want to write something.  But what should I write about?  I daydream for a bit and then I get an image of a character in my mind.  It unfolds like a movie.  He's in 7th grade.  He's popular.  He's good at soccer.  He's walking down the hallway at his school and there are some nerdy boys watching him.  But not out of jealousy.  Like they're waiting for something to happen.  For him to join them in some adventure.

But what?  What adventure?  What mystery can ensue that will force a popular boy to team up with some nerdy boys to ......whatever.  I'm stumped.  Is there a bad teacher threatening to do something?  It's been done before.  Is there a bomb in the school by the school bully?  Too quick to solve.  I don't know where to go from the original thought.  So the boy is just stumbling around in my brain.  I've got nothing for him to do that hasn't been done before.  And he's not speaking to me, telling me what he should be doing.  So he isn't even helping!  He just keeps walking down the school hallway.

So this is where some writers claim to be pantsters.  You know, they don't plan, they just start and see where it takes them.  But I have trouble really understanding how that works.  Do they start out with just a character and see where he goes, or do they really have a general idea of the mystery/activity/heart of the story and just don't know the details on how they get there.

Are you a pantster?  How much of a story is clear to you when you begin writing it down?  Help a sister out, wouldya?  Leave a comment so I can find out what others do.  Thanks!!