Webnovel.Forum

MissCringeyAuthor
I tend to go with the flow. I let my story take me where it wants to go

A little bit of both. I tend to lean on the character's story than the plot, so I let them decide which direction the story should take depending on their own belief, desires, and fears. To me, a plot is just an external event/conflict that drives my character away from their comfort zone. But the real story lies in why it matters to the character personally and how it changes them into a better person at the end of the book (or the worst person if it's a negative character arc).

Technically one should have an outline of the plot, even if its just a blurb for that arc or something more detailed... least thats what the writing classes say. Like the others my story is very much off the cuff, I have an over reaching plot in mind but its very much chapter to chapter variance based on mood and current inspiration.

I spend quite a long time planning my stories before I actually begin writing them. I had a post about it on my website some time ago, so I am going to share it here too, maybe others can get some inspiration from it :)

It all starts with an idea. The idea can come to me at any given time during the day, or even when I am asleep. The ideas can be quite different. It can be a scene of a book I want to write, or it can be a more abstract idea of “I want a book with a system”

After that, I sit down and begin thinking about whether or not the idea that came to my mind was plausible, or if it was too vague.

I usually spend a few days to consider an idea before I actually begin plotting something down on paper.

After that, I split the planning like this:

First I make a rough outline. Let us take my new series Primeval Chaos System(Not on Webnovel) as an example.

I start by planning how many main arcs I want the series to have. Each main arc will then have a special title. Like “Book 1 – transmigration and getting used to the world.” “Book 2 – xxxx.” “Book 3 – xxxx.” And so on.

After having planned the main arcs, I do not instantly begin planning them in detail, instead I focus on just the first main arc.

When focusing on the main arc, I begin planning the minor arcs. Such as “Minor Arc 1 – Transmigration and introduction” “Minor Arc 2 – XXX” “Minor arc 3 – XXX”

It is not before now, that I begin making a detailed plan for the first arc. And that is made for one small arc at a time, so I take Minor Arc 1, and then I write chapter for chapter what I want to happen in them. “Chapter 1 – Transmigration.” “Chapter 2 – xxx” “chapter 3 – xxx”

Keep in mind that although I write what I want to happen in each chapter, it is not always possible to keep it like that. Often I overestimate what I can put into a chapter, and thus I often end up with many more chapters than I had originally planned for. That is not a bad thing.

When I have planned the chapters, I finally begin writing. It is at this point that I can get something out.

So I plan the overreaching arcs for the whole series first, after which I take smaller "bitesize" parts of the story and plan out.

The reason that I plan like this is for easier writing. When I have everything planned out it takes almost no time to write a chapter, and I have the ability to foreshadow things, and plan something interwoven into the story many books in advance.

I don't know if anyone can use this, but it is just how I plan my books before and while writing.

I always just go with the flow. It is how I do everything

I plan out the main story, what is the purpose of the character and what are these motives, when will I introduce which character, and the general progression. The farther into the story the thinner my outline is.
Than I write. And while writing I plan ahead the next couple of plotlines, meaning that my plans get clearer the nearer they are to my story progress. I am flexible however, for example I used a rather minor character originall to play a medium important role. Characters I plan almost nothing, I give them a setting and let them develop while I write them.
The one thing I did however plan fully was the worldbuilding.

My process is that I usually plan things out first. I write down a note of all things I want to consider, be it my main character or the general gist of the plot and how it goes. I then later write my chapter down, edit, re-write, and then publish.

I'm both. If I want to publish a book, I'll outline to the end for the reason that I need to finish it at the quickest speed possible. A planned outline helps me achieve this. It's also good habit to outline a story if you ever want to query for publication. I also recommend outlining a book series to ensure consistency.

Outline everything before writing if you want to write an over-100-chapters-novel consistently