It's way too hard to get through all the "helpful" novel-writing advice on youtube to finally get to some real advice from a pro like this. Hey, amateurs who have taken too many English classes like I have, please spare us until you actually accomplish something or have some unique insight.

Thank you, I grew up reading the Vampire Chronicles. (I've not yet read Interview though!) The Feast Of All Saints was also one of my favourite books of all time! My copy was gold leafed....I lost it in Brazil while traveling😢 That book is just so beautiful with all the New Orleans / Cajun french language woven into it.

Although some of her works are in my top 10 must reads and some are misses, Anne Rice is my patron saint of writing.

Wrote one book with a very detailed outline... took four years. Wrote anither book with a looser outline, took two years. While writing the four year one, I sat down with a different story in my head and just began typing it out, with no outline or anything. Got halfway into it in about a month... and there it has stayed, for years.

I have always found an outline takes all the joy out of creating. I have always done some form of outline, but by the time I get it done I am ready to move on to the next idea. I am the closest I have ever been to completeing a novel without the first attempt at an outline, so for me no outline works best. The basics are in my head rather like a movie, but it leaves room for the unexpected!

With me, a couple of key scenes decided to play like a movie inside my head and it's a race to write them down before my mind moves on to the next idea from inspiration (I could get inspiration from gazing at a lump of dogshit - true story). So with those key scenes written, the journey of filling those starts. So, I'm a non-outlining writer. Even though I have done it.

Awesome feedback on this method, Anne! Thank you for your input..

Great insights

me too Anne! People think I am crazy because I write like this.

Ah, good to know, Anne. I've recently finished my first novella, and I began it with no idea in mind as to what characters would come along, or what their personality or voices would be. I just started typing, and the world, the voices, the characters in the story just guided me on what they wanted to happen. It was almost as if I didn't half to think, my mind just spilled it all out, and now I have a completely finished story. This advice definitely works for me, nonetheless.

I've just recently tried outlining and it works till I started on the actual story...and the characters take over from there. Seriously, it's like they hijack a story and take me for a joyride!

Ah! Thats really nice to know. I often wonder if Im doing the right thing by not completely planning.

I am a writer, or at least an aspiring one. I have tendencies for both outlining and not. It's whatever you see in your head, I think. Get it out on paper in any form, and put it together as you go.

Anne rice and cat sugarplum

Amen!!!!

Outlines hinder me. I like to surprise myself. I don't start with no idea, however. I usually don't start a project until I have a premise and a cast.

It is not incredible, i writer without planning and it is not like the characters take over; it is that they dictate themselves. They are like children that want to be heard (written) and i am the adult that indicates in which manner and form. Most of the time i get a character from a different story i'm writing that interferes, gets in the way, and steels a line from the story, or event at hand.

"I've done it both ways" hahaha interesting xD

There's good in both methods, and problems in both methods. Sometimes, without an outline, I've done very well and written some of my best pieces. Other times, I've written myself into a corner and said to myself, "Damn, I'll either have to stop right here, or cut a LOT of this..." With an outline, you know what is going to happen, and you can still tweak it a bit...but you lose some of that spontaneity, and it feels like you're going down a checklist. It becomes boring. Maybe it's just me.