How in detail do you like Plan out your stories since you’ve mention in previous asks about how you plan them out, write them, and then furiously post until all the readers worry whether or not you take a break. How in detail before you actually write? Or is it intuitive?

To be honest, I usually come up with an idea, draft out a very brief plan, and then just start writing and come back to fix it up later. But I usually don’t start posting until I’ve either completely finished writing the fic, or pretty much written the bulk of it and planned out an ending.

(I’d actually done that for Sixteen Rules, but ended up going wayyyyy off what I’d planned. I think it worked out for the better though.)

But I like to have an entire (or at least, very substantial) draft written up before I start posting, just so I know where I’m going. I’ve found though, that the best chapters I’ve written have been spontaneous. I think it’s good to have a rough draft though, just so that you know where you’re going and to help you familiarise yourself with the characters. But you don’t have to stick to it perfectly (I know I seldom do).

All that being said though, sometimes it can be better to start posting it, and see what the readers enjoy. I’ll be completely honest, I probably have about 100k+ words worth of fanfiction that I’ve just never published. Long, detailed fics that I really wanted to finish writing before posting, because I was worried I’d lose the plot if I started posting too early. But it’s very easy to lose motivation when doing this, because you have no one giving you feedback about your writing, so you’re not sure whether or not people will actually enjoy it when you post it.

Even so, drafting is my lifeline, so I do it very rigorously before I start posting chapters. But normally, I just start writing once I’ve come up with an idea, and see where it takes me. I’m not sure this is the best advice. I often tend to get stumped at certain points or chapters, and I think it might be because I don’t do enough planning beforehand.

I think planning out with themes and character goals in mind can help move the plot along well. All this said, I’m probably not the best person to be giving advice. While I really enjoy writing, I’m still learning how to go about it.

Thank you for sending in this ask though! I’m sorry it got really long ^u^ I like writing out my thoughts like this though, it kind of helps me step back and analyse myself haha.