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It is really interesting to read the different responses here. I can particularly relate to Jim Chaseley's post about self-doubt; some days I'll read over what I've done and think it's great, and other days I'll read over what I've done and think it's absolute crap. I've not yet found anyone to bounce unfinished work off, so for now I've taken the dictum: write. It's become a compulsion to me and so I just keep at it ... and it has paid off. I actually like my first novel now it's complete - and the few people I've shared it with seem to like it too.
But the actual process of getting to the end of that first novel was often quite painful. I bounced back and forth between no plan, no idea at all of where it was headed, and then weeks spent considering the characters, back-story and a rough plan ... which evolved into a much larger story that I am now trying to complete as subsequent novels. But at no point have I felt able to come up with a detailed chapter plan - the story telling remains driven very much by the characters themselves. I can't seem to write unless I am inside the story with the characters.
There are obviously significant risks with such undirected writing, and those risks continue to gnaw at me, increasing my sense of doubt ... but I tell myself that this sense of doubt is a good thing, it keeps me striving to make it all work. I have to be able to read and re-read what I've done without losing that sense of involvement.
I don't come from a background of writing (literature at school, writers groups and so on) - only reading. I've often wondered how much of my lack of direction comes from a lack of experience, I look forward to seeing how things may change as I gain experience. I was sort of hoping that the subsequent novels I have started would be easier, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The main advantage I have now, over when I first started, is a finished novel that I am happy with, and that offers some confidence to keep pushing forward.
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