Most of my work is done in my head, but I do write the most vague of outlines, more as a reminder that by this point in the novel I wanted x to have happened, and the characters Q P & R introduced, and if I haven't done so, why not.
What this means is I check over my outline only every now and then, rather than try to religously stick to it. Then I make every word I've written justify itself if I've gone past several outline points, without actually reaching them lol.
Of course, I also have dossiers on my characters. I know them as people in their own right, friends, and enemies. A lot of the information in my dossiers never make it into a story, if a character is in their 50s, on a different planet, and fighting other causes, does the reader need to know where they went to Primary School? No, but I do.
no subject
What this means is I check over my outline only every now and then, rather than try to religously stick to it. Then I make every word I've written justify itself if I've gone past several outline points, without actually reaching them lol.
Of course, I also have dossiers on my characters. I know them as people in their own right, friends, and enemies. A lot of the information in my dossiers never make it into a story, if a character is in their 50s, on a different planet, and fighting other causes, does the reader need to know where they went to Primary School? No, but I do.