I've changed my mind -- outlining is a good idea.

Somehow I got it in my head that if I wrote an outline, I wouldn't write the book.  Somehow I convinced myself that I "discovered" the book by writing it. 

Problem was -- I may have been discovering the book by writing it, but the plot was coming out in such a haphazard way that it usually necessitated a whole lot of reorganization.  I was constantly writing myself into corners, or being too predictable, or having to go back and shoehorn elements I left out.

If I didn't finish outlined books in the past, there must have been other reasons for it, I think.

So I decided after struggling with Nearly Human that every book thereafter would be planned ahead, and then -- written quickly.

This seems to be working.  These two elements put together -- planning them and then writing quickly.  Along with the third working technique of being patient in rewriting.

The working process is at least as important as the creative process when I'm taking on as big a challenge as a novel.

What I'm discovering is, that it isn't so much the plot of the book that I need to outline -- though that is useful as far as it goes.  No, I need to think about what "elements" the book needs, and where.

1.) The plot.  If I have a clear idea of what a chapter is about, I tend to write it quickly and concisely.  But what I'm finding is, that the plot is a very flexible thing.  For instance, I outlined the first 11 chapters of Wolflander, but by the time I got to the 3rd chapter, I was already changing it.  In this case, I added a chapter.

I'm pretty sure this will happen throughout the book, but it just means that I'm constantly thinking about the plot, coming up with the next day or weeks writing, and changing things for the better.

2.) The elements.  What I mean by this is, the book needs to have all the proper parts.

A good example is when I started writing Death of an Immortal, I knew that the theme was going to be redemption.  That the main protagonist was trying to reform, and -- you know -- not eat people.
Well, what kind of vampire story is that?  So I decided I needed a Big Bad -- an evil vampire who could supply the thrills and chills.

In the past, I might have written the whole book without realizing what was missing.

With this newest book, I realized within a few thousand words that the original plot outline meant that all these secondary characters I had invented for Nearly Human, didn't have much to do.  So I thought about it for a few hours last night, and came up with a neat little plot device that will bring them in the story.  The plot element was there all along, but I just figured out a way to get the characters connected to it.

The more of this avoiding pitfalls I do in the first place, the easier it will be to write the book.

So I've come around -- planning for a book makes sense.  Outlining makes sense.  Making sure the book has all the elements to succeed makes sense.

I can still have plenty of flexibility in the actual writing.  If new plot point comes up, fine.  If a new character pops up and wants to be part of the story, fine.

Like a long road trip, detours are allowed, as long as I stick to the basic direction I mapped out.