Pepsilovr
Pepsilovr asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Are you a “pantser” or a “plotter”? Or somewhere in between? I find that even if I have a good idea of where I am going with a scene (or the book), the characters tend to run off and do things I hadn’t had in mind…

Lois McMaster Bujold
I've answered this before at greater length, somewhere, if you scroll back through the pile, but I'm in-between. I do a lot of general note taking, and pushing ideas around on paper to see if they'll fit, before I start writing, but it's as much a memory aid as anything. I then narrow down on scenes, my basic work unit, and outline each one quite a bit before I sit down and write it out, sometimes mutating as it goes. Then lather, rinse, repeat with the next scenes in a chain. I don't outline in detail in advance; future developments fade off into obscurity pretty quickly, until I work my way closer.

I have more problems with characters sitting down and not moving than with them running off.

When I'm writing anything at all, that is.

Ta, L.

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