Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
I was thinking of this quip this morning as I went about my day and wondered how it applied to writing; for, as you know, much in life has to do with writing :) and it occurred to me that often, at least in my own writing, the outline comes after the writing and not usually before.
I have some general ideas of the plot, but, can I be honest?
Most of my plotting comes with the writing, when the character speaks in my ear and the setting and other characters follow closely behind.
And I don't think it really matters.
The tricky part comes when you're writing a mystery story and you have to have all your eggs in one basket so to speak, but I think, as a general rule, as the story moves along, so does the plot.
There are times, mind you, that I have to stop writing and do a little research, but again, as soon as the research is done I can return to my story.
How about you? Do you write by the seat of your pants like I do, or do you schedule ahead? And if you schedule, how closely do you stick with your plans when you finally get down to writing?
Would love to hear.
Kathryn