Once upon a time I would venture into the wilds without one, but then the story had a distressing tendency to die on me.
As a consequence, now, when I set out into wilds, I am merely blazing the trail the story will follow. Once it reaches a destination, even if not the destination I had thought, I go back and put in the trail.
Sure, sometimes I have to diverge from the path, and subplot tend to sprout in the actual first draft -- or later -- but this way I escape stacks of unfinished stories.
outline
Once upon a time I would venture into the wilds without one, but then the story had a distressing tendency to die on me.
As a consequence, now, when I set out into wilds, I am merely blazing the trail the story will follow. Once it reaches a destination, even if not the destination I had thought, I go back and put in the trail.
Sure, sometimes I have to diverge from the path, and subplot tend to sprout in the actual first draft -- or later -- but this way I escape stacks of unfinished stories.