Paula, good post! And very true that there's no "right" method for everybody; the question is which approach works for the individual writer.

I like to start a novel with a written plan --chapter numbers with a notation of what I want to have happen in each one. But both with Lifeblood and my novel in progress, I've wound up changing the plan as I work and new ideas arise, or I see problems with the original design. (The plan for Lifeblood went through a LOT of changes before the final version!) So I guess I'm personally in the hybrid category. :-)

Hi Werner: Your words seem to reflect what I hear from a number of authors. Lots of us are hybrids these days. One author told me the "true author is the story itself." I kind of like that because it paid so much honor to the process of story and not the writer.

I like that quote too, Paula!