Architect versus Gardener
George R.R. Martin talks about architects and gardeners when comparing writers who use an outline versus those who do discovery writing. The architect has a plan and follows their plan as they write. The gardener has an idea of what's going on, but the whole thing is uncovered as they write without knowing what's happening next. That's very off or on. You are this or you are that. Is it really that cut and dry?
My experience is that it's not. At least not for me. I'm somewhere in between. I have an outline, but I really don't know the details of what is going to happen in a scene. There a few scenes that I think I know what will occur, but that's about as far as it goes.
Brandon Sanderson has talked about this a number of times and he positions these methods as ends of a spectrum. Some authors have to have the discovery and wonder as they write or it's boring. Others need things super detailed before they begin. The rest of us land some where along the scale between them.
When I sat down to write this book I wanted to discover it, but it was paralyzing. To be candid, I don't have enough skill to do it. I've been a gardener for short stories, but if it goes longer then I run out of steam because I have trouble deciding on a destination. My outline for the entire book is like a series of way points. There's not any detail in it to hang my hat on, much less a book.
I have found it helpful to dig deeper into one of those way points before I start writing it. I add more touch points underneath each way point. What will they see here? Who do they interact with? What is the outcome? Then I start writing that section. I don't rigidly follow my semi-detailed touch points though. They guide me and then I let the story happen as I write.
Tonight has been a touch point night. I didn't get into the writing groove, so I settled for figuring out whether something is going to be a conflict for the characters or will provide more information to them later on.
The next few weeks are going to be a bit wonky and I will be running largely solo. I'm not looking forward to that aspect of it, but I expect I will be able to schedule and get in more writing time. So the upside is I can enjoy the story progressing more rapidly.