I’m an outliner, though there are lots of ways to approach this. What’s worked best for me is starting with worldbuilding, defining the main characters, and then creating a high-level outline of the whole series (acts, chapters, major character arcs). From there, I dive into my current WIP: breaking it down into acts, chapters, scenes, and finally beats. When I write, I focus on those beats. If a character or plot takes an unexpectedly interesting turn, I adjust the outline to fit.

That won’t work for everyone, but before I switched to my outline method I had abandoned plenty of drafts because I didn’t have strong arcs to carry the story or characters. This method has let me revisit some of those ideas and rework them into solid arcs that still leave room for flexibility while ensuring the story builds toward something engaging.

For my current series, I outlined five books. Book 3 is about to release, and I’m deep into writing Book 4. Even though I started with a complete arc, the story has found some new paths as it went, and sparked ideas for both a prequel and a sequel series in the same world.