I'm outlining a book this week.
I admit I'm an on again, off again outliner. It seems like some stories will flow better if I just start typing and don't stop to think too hard about the plot. It's happened several times before.
Other times though I find outlining first keeps me focused on the story arc, characters, environment, etc.
This book has lots of characters, species (yes it's a SciFi story ;-), environments, battles and hopefully a whole lot of fun for the reader!
Another benefit for the outline is that I get a chance to enjoy the story as well. I get to 'play' with paths and tangents to see if I like them, before I commit to them in the story. It's really hard to back out lots of dialog, characters, etc. in a packed word document. Much easier to do in an outline.
The story involves some WW 2 submarine characters, boats and action. I have a chance to put all that research I've done to good use!
I'll keep you posted.
Do you always outline or always not outline?
