In the depths of pre-writing in preparation for NaNoWriMo.  This is my first go at this so I have been paying a lot more attention to what the other participants are saying about their process.  Watching the forums I am seeing two distinct camps developing: the “heavy outliners” and the “wing-it” discovery writers.  I suspect that this is nothing more than a reflection of their normal writing process – November is just the time to talk about it in the forums.

For my part, I am doing my best to outline and structure the character arcs.  Focusing on each individual character and how they are going to develop through the story.  Meshing these together and integrating with the world building is something I am leaving for the last week of October.  The outcome, I hope, will be a useful outline that I can then spend the month of November more or less filling in the detailed blanks.  Of course: “No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.”  (Moltke)