Tybalt, please tell us when this gets too spammy.

Doug Murphy <Draxonx@bellsouth.net> wrote:

Do you make an outline of the whole fic and stick to it like crazy glue?  Do you
just come up with an enemy that the characters from the anime have to face and
work out the plot as you go?  How do *you* decide how the plot unravels in your
storylines.

The reason I'm interested is because once I finish chapter 3 of CCWD and
re-write ADD I'm moving on to part two of CCWD for which I have a lot of
'events' planned but I'm not sure how everything is going to be worked out. 
Should I sit down before I even start and make an outline or have you all found
that letting a story 'write itself' is better?

I think it depends on the kind of story you want to end up with.
Personally, I plan all of my major stories well in advance and spend a
lot of time thinking about what I'm going to do before I ever start
typing. Sometimes as I write I find that the plan I had doesn't make
sense and I have to change it in midstream, but more often than not I
know exactly where all my plots and major subplots are going at all
times.

It all depends on what works for you and the kind of writing you like to
do. Some people just start from a story concept and write. This has the
advantage of being spontaneous and probably flowing better, but you run
the risk of a weak ending, or even no ending at all as you write
yourself into a corner.


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics