Aleck H asked Christopher Moore:

Do you fully outline before beginning a novel or mostly make it up as you go?

Christopher Moore I outline, but not "fully". I usually start with a very loose outline that sort of hits the beats of a three or five act structure, but often I don't know what events will lead to those critical events. I have to leave a little slop in an outline in case I think of something funny. The discipline one tries to adhere to, is to not include anything that doesn't move the story forward, reveal character, or build suspense, but in my case, I will also go down a rabbit hole to chase something funny, and that sort of thing happens, often, when the characters are mixing it up, not when I'm working in outline form.

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