All the suggestions so far have been good, but I'll add a couple more.
I like to brew to a style, so the first place I go is the BJCP guidelines (
http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php ). Not because I'm gunning for a competition, but because it gives just enough information to give you a sense of the style without giving you any specific directions. Then try a few of the commercial examples and see what kinds of notes are present in your favorites that you'd like to incorporate into your beer.
When you get to developing the recipe, remember this simple ratio: 80-100% of your grain bill should be base malts or malt extract with no more than 20% specialty malts. If you want to use adjuncts, replace some of the base malt, but keep it under 30%.
Also, keep it simple. Everyone wants to make a mind-blowing brew, but in the beginning, you're really just learning about what the ingredients taste like and how they play together. A SMaSH can teach you a lot even though it's a simple as you can get. A big lesson I learned is that a lot of the "complexity" in beer comes from the yeast, not the hops or malt. Look as Saison duPont as an example.
And finally, I'd stay away from the weirder ingredients for a little while, and when you're ready, use them judiciously. New folks tend to go nuts in this regard and really end up overdoing it. To use a musical metaphor familiar to the older folks here: the Beatles made some very interesting rock songs featuring the sitar. But that's because they had been making solid rock songs for 20 years and knew a lot about music theory. Whereas new guy might likely end up with an all-sitar Buddy Holly cover band. Could it turn out good? It's possible. But not likely.