When writing a story, do you already have the end of it in mind?

Kate Wrath Yes, but I don't have all the details. For instance, I've known since I began writing Book One of The E Series how the series would end. I knew some of the things that would happen along the way, but not all of them. For example, there's an event in Elegy that completely blindsided me and made me scramble to pick up the pieces around it. That one event changed some of the things that I had seen happening at the end of the series, but it didn't change the overall outcome.

I think it's important to know where you're headed, or you might never get there, and the story might suffer. But, personally, I like to have a good deal of freedom with my writing, so that I can discover things along with the characters. Their choices guide the story, just like in real life. If things are too structured, you run the risk of having a "canned" plot (something I personally cannot stand in a story). Anyway, there's a balance in there, somewhere in the middle, and that's how I tend to write. I'm not saying that's how everyone should write, because all writers are different. But for me, it works quite well.

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