I don’t know about you, but when I write, I don’t really plan.

Sure, I might have an idea of what I want to write about, but generally, I’ll write until something takes shape.

That creative freedom is what I love about writing. It’s also a double-edged sword because you’ve got to somehow make sense of that creative chaos once the words are written.

In the past, I’ve just reversed outlined the first draft and gone on my merry editing way, tweaking things based on my own ideas and feedback from betas.

That worked well for years, when past me didn’t know how to show and not tell, or that her MS was full of unnecessary stage direction.

Now I’ve learned these things and more, I know the difference giving your creativity some structure can make. I’m also no longer worried that analyzing each scene for character arcs…