Magic - yay or nay?

Its funny, I haven't written here in a little while, and I come back and re-read the last post to laugh at myself. Not because I didn't feel like that, I did. Not because it's laughable, its not. But because the first line of this post was also going to be along the lines of I Feel Stuck. Albeit a different kind of stuck.

I am trying to write a story, and I have the basic theme that I want to run through it, but I am stuck for inspiration as to what is going to affect my characters throughout it.

What do I want this story to be about?  My main character is a young girl (currently 16 or so, that is subject to change) who has a connection with a dead famous person. 

Will it be about love, lost and found? Death and dealing with it? A slightly supernatural story, people hearing dead voices…or is it just her? Some unusual connection to the dead? 

I want my protagonist to have a connection to this one particular famous dead person, but not any other dead person, famous or non.

Will it be a very non-exciting book, no major climactic episodes, just day to day living?

Needs something more exciting than that. Needs a middle. Needs guts.

What are the guts though?  What challenges does a 16 year old face?  Bullying – cyber and real? Loss of family member? Moving home and settling into new place?

Or should she be older? 18 or 19? Should it be about the thrills and excitement and nerves of college life? Moving out by herself, living on her own, making her way in the world? Should she be older still, working, dating, maybe even marrying and having children?

Should I go totally supernatural and have her talking to the dead and using it to her advantage? Or should her connection to this one person freak her out and its her attempting to rid herself of it?  

I've read so many books throughout my life, and its not like I have a type. I'll read almost anything. Which makes figuring out what I want to write about difficult for me. I'm interested in so much that picking the few elements I want in this story is proving harder than I expected. 

In the past my stories have been very loosley based in reality. There isn't very often ghosts or ghouls, there isn't an awful lot of drama, because, thankfully and touch wood *touches table* I haven't experienced any overly dramatic and life changing events. The few I have have been good experiences at the end of it all. So I am asking for help. 

What challenges do you face? What type stories do you enjoy to read about? Do you like things close to home or do you prefer the more magical side of life?