Story plot structure

As I plough on I become more conscious that it will become harder and harder to harness all the various plot elements. (As Roger at the Richmond Writers' Circle predicted.) I can't say I am too worried at this stage. My first rewrite will aim to tie up all the loose ends. Nevertheless I don't want too many of them. 

Inevitably, the way I started meant that problems would arise. I started writing mostly because Yvonne suggested I should join a writers' group and I thought that if I were going to, I should try and write something. At the time I was reading 'Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth and Art' by Lewis Hyde and I wanted to do something with this and so Ludens was born in my mind. At the same time I have always been fascinated by 1904 as so much that was to change the world seem to occur then. Also the words 'gentlemen rankers' had been in my mind for many years and I thought it might make a good story along the lines of MacDonald Fraser's Flashman. (The former, if not the latter, being a hero of mine. 

By contrast origin of the Ladies of the Kensington Gore Croquet Club totally baffles me. It seem to start with the bicycle and after that they lust elbowed their way into the story. There was nothing I could do. So trying to harness all these elements poses a problem or two. I believe yet that I can manage it. Mind you, I'm not sure how.

What actually is a Gentleman Ranker?

"The Gentlemen Rankers" is the title of my story and I shouldn't be surprised, I guess, if I get asked a lot what a gentleman ranker is. In my story it comes straight from Rudyard Kipling's poen from his collection - "Barrack Room Ballads". Conveniently out of copyright as it is, you can find it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentleman_ranker

A gentleman ranker is someone who you would think would be an officer to judge by their attitude, breeding and education but who is a non-commissioned officer or private. In the British army of Victorian times this was not uncommon. It was the result of misfortune or misadventure. My original gentleman rankers in the story are Reuben Chatham and Ambrose Delahay. How they came to be gentleman rankers will be revealed as part of the plot. As the story opens they are sergeants in the Royal Engineers. I chose the Royal Engineers as it is in this regiment that the brightest rise fastest. As I wrote on I found that this choice chimed nicely in with other elements. I think there is a something at work that if you are somehow on the right track in writing a novel things fall into place. I have no evidence for that, mind.