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Used to plan everything, never finished a thing. Now I just let the story carry me. Between writing and writing again the story sort of swishes around in my head and things pop up, but I never make notes.
I reckon both types of approach work for the people they work for. But for years I used to read all the how-to this and write-it-that-way kind of books and took their advice to heart. Problem was that I never felt good putting any of those schemes, plans and tricks into action. The only one I ever kept with me, and it serves me well from time to time when I can't focus, is Dwight V Swain's outlining method. I keep it inside my head and refrence it from time to time, but never bother to write it down.
The acronym is:
SCOOD - Situation, Character, Objective, Opponent, Disaster
I'll give you a Swain example, very pulpy of how it works.
Situation When humans suddenly begin to grow to twelve-foot height
Character John Storm
Objective tries to find out why.
But can he defeat
Opponent the traitors in high places
Disaster who want to kill him in order to make the change appear to be the result of an extra-terrestrial plot?
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