Writing Woes...?

Question:

Writing Woes...?

For any experienced writers out there...
When you're writing a story, do you always outline it play-by-play before beginning, or do you do a seat-of-the-pants thing and let it fly as it comes to the tip of your tongue?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I've done it both ways. I have sold pseudonymous novels under contract to Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, and in these cases it was important to outline so I could write the whole story successfully to the end in the first try. That is, I had to make sure that I would not lose my way. But I have also written my own (unpublished) novels by just writing to discover the story.

One couple I know, professional novelists, have completely opposite ways of working. She plans every novel very carefully in her head, and she doesn't put down word one until the story is completely plotted, chapter by chapter (but all still in her head!) He, on the other hand, says that he could never write a novel that way. If he knew how it was all going to turn out, it wouldn't be any fun for him to write it!

Every writer is different. It's probably best to try a couple of different approaches just to see which methods are fun for you, and which succeed at producing a result that you're happy with. The ideal is to both enjoy the process and end up with a good mansucript.