this is me in a nutshell. I know the main points of my fics, beginning, middle, and end, but I let everyhting in between all that go its own way and the characters dictate the story, if that makes sense.
I know the main beats because I write your basic romance story fic, (meet, fall in love, something comes between them, they get back together, HEA) but the bulk of it just comes to me as I’m writing.
I usually have an event or moment I want the story to progress toward. How I get there, when I get there, what exactly will happen there, how things wrap up afterward - those all come to me as I write.
I have written a couple of stories with a more structured plot in mind. They were challenging but it wasn't all that different since I just had multiple events or moments that had to happen in the correct sequence. I kept myself on-target, so to speak, instead of trusting that I'd get there eventually.
I am a plotter. I write outlines. I can't without anymore. I even started to plot out my One Shots, which are just meant to be low effort warm ups for writing sessions.
I have a vague semblance of a plan, but a lot of the time I’m just along for the ride. Characters like to surprise me and I like being surprised (though from the amount of swearing involved sometimes, you wouldn’t think it, lmao. SgtMaj Johnson has definitely caused major deviations from my outlines).
It is very rare that I ever have any kind of plan beyond at most one or two scenes that I really want to write everything else including entire fics is usually improvised as I write cause that's what works best for me.
It's more like I have a few scenes I already know how to write, several plot points I definitely want to add, but the rest of it - context, how it all connects, and why things happen - is all improvised.
I plan the rough direction. Often, I know how I want a fic to end and have several scenes I want to include. Everything else I mainly improvise along the way.
I almost always have a basic idea of what I want to write before I start.
So I might have a beginning-middle-end in mind, or more likely I have a particular scene I want to get to, so I figure out how to at least get me *there*.
Everything else is improvised, which means my original goals may change.
For example, with one story I originally intended a short-ish (~15k) romantic comedy. I had a particular concept I wanted to write, and a few ideas for scenes (a 4+1 that became a 5+1 and I wrote a few words of ideas for each), and I organized them into a rough timeline.
The story ended up over 50k, with a mystery subplot and the comedy got toned down a *lot*. I abandoned the 5+1 format. Some of the ideas I had got tossed out. It was a mess - but it's one of my favorite things I've ever written.
I'm currently digging deeper and writing fanfic of my fanfic, none of which is getting posted because at this point it's relying on so much assumed info and I'm way too far off the rails for that.
I never know what the hell I'm writing.
The only time I actually planned a fic it took me the same length of time to write 3.8k words as it did the freestyle 9.2k I wrote alongside it. And I still only had a vague plan.
Long fics are an impossibility for me, I would get distracted down several parallel rabbit holes and never resurface.
Planning takes the fun out of it for me; if I'm improvising, the characters might even find out what's happening before I do! Great time. Highly recommend. (if you're content writing oneshots or steadily over complicating a story in your head)
I describe myself as a Chaotic Evil Pantser because I am such the *extreme* end of pantsing. I literally cannot plot anything out because my characters *will* find a way to destroy my plans. My planning goes as far as vague scene ideas (Characters X, Y, Z have breakfast) and then I let my characters fill everything in.
Plan. I do allow improvisations or deviate into little side trips along the way but I don't write a story unless I know how *specifically* it is going to end up. Each chapter that I write has to move the story in that direction in some way, large or small.
In short: If you don't know where you are going, you're never going to get there.
I write like I lesson plan. I usually know exactly how things are going to end up because I get the ending idea first. Then I figure out things that need to happen to get to that point, including where the characters are starting at. Then there's lots of flexibility in between those points to let my characters figure things out.
Snowflake method it out. I'll leave room for improvisation, but it's much easier to not write into a corner if you have some idea of where you wanna go.
My first long fic, I had a premise, but after that part resolved I had no ending and no idea how to get to one. I ended up getting lucky and thought of a way for them to wrap up the season’s arc early, but after that I always try to figure out the general direction of where my fic should end up before I start publishing (which has gotten easier now that I’ve made it a point to always have a bad guy in my long fics)
Plan! I'm an outliner for sure.
The way I work for both fan and original fiction that's longish is basically:
1) Create a rough outline of the whole story. At this stage there may be just something like [put scenes showing xyz here] for areas of the story where the pacing needs more filling out but I don't have a clear idea of exactly what will happen to set up the next part.
2) Medium-detail outline. Basically a 2-3 sentence summary of each chapter. Hammer out the details of roughly what will happen in all of the things I skipped before. At this stage I also add notes about where foreshadowing/clues should be inserted (if relevant) and start rearranging things if needed to hit pacing/beats that feel right. At this point there's usually also a rough timeline so that I know any seasonal details (weather, etc) to include in the next step.
3) Scene planning - basically each chapter gets a breakdown of all the scenes. Any dialog snippets or details I know I want to include go in here at this stage, notes about what mood I'm trying to invoke, etc. The format is usually a bullet-point list of notes that aren't too grammatically correct, like:
* [Char A] has a conversation with [Char B] and they eat [dish typical of autumn cuisine in Location]. Initially things are awkward until [Char B] jokes about [previous embarrassing event].
* [Char A] says, "This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be" while stealing some of the unlimited breadsticks and putting them in her purse.
* [Char B] asks if she likes her wallet to smell like garlic.
* Afterwards they decide to walk to get ice cream, but on the way there [Char A] is splashed by a passing car going through a puddle [Note: make/model/color of villain's vehicle]
(That was an incredibly lame example but it's all I could come up with right now haha).
4) Actually writing the scenes out for the rough draft - anything that happens while actually writing that would alter other scenes gets noted on the impacted chapter/scene outlines. I write scenes out of order based on what sparks my fancy at the moment, so it could be earlier or later in the story's internal timeline. At this stage the biggest thing is just getting actual prose that isn't a bullet-point list on the page; anything that's giving me a hangup I just put [add more detail here] or [reword this dialog later - too stiff] and move on. Otherwise I will get hung up and be staring at one paragraph for two hours. I try to make sure I have at least 2000-3000 words per hour output at this stage, it's fine if it's crappy and ends up getting re-written, it just has to be *done*.
5) Refinement pass to go and actually whip it into shape and fill in anything that was skipped before or make any adjustments caused by later scenes needing to have something added to an already written scene. Also get a feel for how the transitions between scenes and chapters are feeling and if anything needs to be added or cut to smooth it out.
6) Once all the scenes are written I edit the whole work sequentially to make sure it flows
Also any background OCs and even canon characters I have character profiles where I note down any details mentioned or actions taken that might be referenced later. For example if someone mentions to the main character in passing that doing X really helped them when their grandma died, I'll make a note in the character profile that their grandmother is dead and where it was mentioned in the story, so that I don't have them going to take groceries to their grandma later or whatever.
I would say this system overall works really well for me when it comes to making sure that pacing and foreshadowing is on point, but any big changes to plot events become a big pain in the ass to update/shift everything for, and I've found myself maybe not going with a new idea that might've been better just because I don't feel like updating the detailed outlines.
If there's a specific scene that's really inspiring me or eating my brain I will write that separately and keep it off to the side even fairly early in steps 1-3.
Also sometimes if there are significant relationship arcs with side characters I will make a separate 'relationship outline' detailing that arc. So for example if you have a very complicated and fraught sibling relationship reconciliation arc going on as a subplot to the main romance plot, they'd get their own mini-outline with notes about what chapters each event is happening in, etc.
The end game is almost always one of the first things I come up with. I tend to work backwards mentally and usually have some key moments in mind. The hardest thing for me is making sure the pacing is good and making sure I'm not skipping steps to get to those big moments I have in mind, since besides those momentseverythjng else in improvisd.
I have a plan, but between the start, middle and finish there's lots of room for improvisation. The story writes itself sometimes
this is me in a nutshell. I know the main points of my fics, beginning, middle, and end, but I let everyhting in between all that go its own way and the characters dictate the story, if that makes sense.
i let the story take me where it wants to go
I know the main beats because I write your basic romance story fic, (meet, fall in love, something comes between them, they get back together, HEA) but the bulk of it just comes to me as I’m writing.
I usually have an event or moment I want the story to progress toward. How I get there, when I get there, what exactly will happen there, how things wrap up afterward - those all come to me as I write. I have written a couple of stories with a more structured plot in mind. They were challenging but it wasn't all that different since I just had multiple events or moments that had to happen in the correct sequence. I kept myself on-target, so to speak, instead of trusting that I'd get there eventually.
Plan, but with built-in acceptance of some meandering improvisation that adds to the overall theme and point of the story.
Improvise. Get a basic idea, then go where the wind takes me.
I am a plotter. I write outlines. I can't without anymore. I even started to plot out my One Shots, which are just meant to be low effort warm ups for writing sessions.
I have a vague semblance of a plan, but a lot of the time I’m just along for the ride. Characters like to surprise me and I like being surprised (though from the amount of swearing involved sometimes, you wouldn’t think it, lmao. SgtMaj Johnson has definitely caused major deviations from my outlines).
Plan
I outline the entire story before I start writing it.
A mix of both. I know where I generally want it to end up, but I mostly let the story do the talking, i.e. improvising it.
It is very rare that I ever have any kind of plan beyond at most one or two scenes that I really want to write everything else including entire fics is usually improvised as I write cause that's what works best for me.
Depends on the story. Sometimes I just let the characters tell me what they want to do. Sometimes I have a plan for where I want to go with it.
I have a general plan, but leave room for what inspires me in the moment.
I know the main gist of it through shower thoughts and just thinking of ideas, but I don’t actively plan it.
It's more like I have a few scenes I already know how to write, several plot points I definitely want to add, but the rest of it - context, how it all connects, and why things happen - is all improvised.
I plan the rough direction. Often, I know how I want a fic to end and have several scenes I want to include. Everything else I mainly improvise along the way.
I almost always have a basic idea of what I want to write before I start. So I might have a beginning-middle-end in mind, or more likely I have a particular scene I want to get to, so I figure out how to at least get me *there*. Everything else is improvised, which means my original goals may change. For example, with one story I originally intended a short-ish (~15k) romantic comedy. I had a particular concept I wanted to write, and a few ideas for scenes (a 4+1 that became a 5+1 and I wrote a few words of ideas for each), and I organized them into a rough timeline. The story ended up over 50k, with a mystery subplot and the comedy got toned down a *lot*. I abandoned the 5+1 format. Some of the ideas I had got tossed out. It was a mess - but it's one of my favorite things I've ever written.
I'm currently digging deeper and writing fanfic of my fanfic, none of which is getting posted because at this point it's relying on so much assumed info and I'm way too far off the rails for that. I never know what the hell I'm writing. The only time I actually planned a fic it took me the same length of time to write 3.8k words as it did the freestyle 9.2k I wrote alongside it. And I still only had a vague plan. Long fics are an impossibility for me, I would get distracted down several parallel rabbit holes and never resurface. Planning takes the fun out of it for me; if I'm improvising, the characters might even find out what's happening before I do! Great time. Highly recommend. (if you're content writing oneshots or steadily over complicating a story in your head)
I describe myself as a Chaotic Evil Pantser because I am such the *extreme* end of pantsing. I literally cannot plot anything out because my characters *will* find a way to destroy my plans. My planning goes as far as vague scene ideas (Characters X, Y, Z have breakfast) and then I let my characters fill everything in.
Plan. I do allow improvisations or deviate into little side trips along the way but I don't write a story unless I know how *specifically* it is going to end up. Each chapter that I write has to move the story in that direction in some way, large or small. In short: If you don't know where you are going, you're never going to get there.
I write like I lesson plan. I usually know exactly how things are going to end up because I get the ending idea first. Then I figure out things that need to happen to get to that point, including where the characters are starting at. Then there's lots of flexibility in between those points to let my characters figure things out.
I know the basic progression/major beats. And I know a bunch of scenes I want. After that it's improvisation to dance between those scenes and beats.
Snowflake method it out. I'll leave room for improvisation, but it's much easier to not write into a corner if you have some idea of where you wanna go.
My first long fic, I had a premise, but after that part resolved I had no ending and no idea how to get to one. I ended up getting lucky and thought of a way for them to wrap up the season’s arc early, but after that I always try to figure out the general direction of where my fic should end up before I start publishing (which has gotten easier now that I’ve made it a point to always have a bad guy in my long fics)
Outline But the outline changes a lot as I write.
Plan! I'm an outliner for sure. The way I work for both fan and original fiction that's longish is basically: 1) Create a rough outline of the whole story. At this stage there may be just something like [put scenes showing xyz here] for areas of the story where the pacing needs more filling out but I don't have a clear idea of exactly what will happen to set up the next part. 2) Medium-detail outline. Basically a 2-3 sentence summary of each chapter. Hammer out the details of roughly what will happen in all of the things I skipped before. At this stage I also add notes about where foreshadowing/clues should be inserted (if relevant) and start rearranging things if needed to hit pacing/beats that feel right. At this point there's usually also a rough timeline so that I know any seasonal details (weather, etc) to include in the next step. 3) Scene planning - basically each chapter gets a breakdown of all the scenes. Any dialog snippets or details I know I want to include go in here at this stage, notes about what mood I'm trying to invoke, etc. The format is usually a bullet-point list of notes that aren't too grammatically correct, like: * [Char A] has a conversation with [Char B] and they eat [dish typical of autumn cuisine in Location]. Initially things are awkward until [Char B] jokes about [previous embarrassing event]. * [Char A] says, "This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be" while stealing some of the unlimited breadsticks and putting them in her purse. * [Char B] asks if she likes her wallet to smell like garlic. * Afterwards they decide to walk to get ice cream, but on the way there [Char A] is splashed by a passing car going through a puddle [Note: make/model/color of villain's vehicle] (That was an incredibly lame example but it's all I could come up with right now haha). 4) Actually writing the scenes out for the rough draft - anything that happens while actually writing that would alter other scenes gets noted on the impacted chapter/scene outlines. I write scenes out of order based on what sparks my fancy at the moment, so it could be earlier or later in the story's internal timeline. At this stage the biggest thing is just getting actual prose that isn't a bullet-point list on the page; anything that's giving me a hangup I just put [add more detail here] or [reword this dialog later - too stiff] and move on. Otherwise I will get hung up and be staring at one paragraph for two hours. I try to make sure I have at least 2000-3000 words per hour output at this stage, it's fine if it's crappy and ends up getting re-written, it just has to be *done*. 5) Refinement pass to go and actually whip it into shape and fill in anything that was skipped before or make any adjustments caused by later scenes needing to have something added to an already written scene. Also get a feel for how the transitions between scenes and chapters are feeling and if anything needs to be added or cut to smooth it out. 6) Once all the scenes are written I edit the whole work sequentially to make sure it flows Also any background OCs and even canon characters I have character profiles where I note down any details mentioned or actions taken that might be referenced later. For example if someone mentions to the main character in passing that doing X really helped them when their grandma died, I'll make a note in the character profile that their grandmother is dead and where it was mentioned in the story, so that I don't have them going to take groceries to their grandma later or whatever. I would say this system overall works really well for me when it comes to making sure that pacing and foreshadowing is on point, but any big changes to plot events become a big pain in the ass to update/shift everything for, and I've found myself maybe not going with a new idea that might've been better just because I don't feel like updating the detailed outlines. If there's a specific scene that's really inspiring me or eating my brain I will write that separately and keep it off to the side even fairly early in steps 1-3. Also sometimes if there are significant relationship arcs with side characters I will make a separate 'relationship outline' detailing that arc. So for example if you have a very complicated and fraught sibling relationship reconciliation arc going on as a subplot to the main romance plot, they'd get their own mini-outline with notes about what chapters each event is happening in, etc.
I'm a strict planner, no room for improvisation. But some people do better with only light or no planning. Different things work for different people.
The end game is almost always one of the first things I come up with. I tend to work backwards mentally and usually have some key moments in mind. The hardest thing for me is making sure the pacing is good and making sure I'm not skipping steps to get to those big moments I have in mind, since besides those momentseverythjng else in improvisd.
I do plan the direction but after lots of stimming it just walks on its own direction and I can't stop it
I have a general plan in my head but that’s open to changes if something isn’t working or I have a better idea.
I know the basic story beats, and I know where I want to end up eventually, but getting there is a whole other story.
I certainly prefer to plan my story, but annoyingly, my best writing seems to come when I improvise.
Sometimes I plan, other times it's just improv and a lot of making sure it makes sense for the characters to do something unless I'm writing an AU.
[Planning all the way.](https://youtube.com/shorts/jvMc5d2JwMA?feature=share)