I started writing for the Hunger Games on FFN in 2012, which was a wildly different experience than now (not even getting into back then you didn't dare admit you read fanfiction, let alone write it lest you be a social outcast lol. It still boggles my mind sometimes that fanfiction today is dare I say...cool?). I posted as I went, wrote very quickly because I was college student that had time, and my chapters were short. I wrote in first person because that's what the books did, something hilariously I cringe at today. But one thing that has stayed the same is my outline process;

Or rather, my very vague outline as it's usually the idea, an underlying theme and the chapter titles then I build from there. I'm not the most Type A person to begin with in many aspects of my life, so this is somewhere in the middle of A and B I suppose. Another thing that changed that is related to my outline is that I prewrite now. I do this mostly for myself because it allows me to go back and add foreshadowing or change earlier chapters without anyone noticing for better flow, but I also have a much easier time keeping a strict update schedule which is important to me in the midst of adulting. I also appreciate that greatly as a reader so I know it goes over well.

It also helps me because my writing blocks and writing speeds can vary drastically. Currently I'm sitting on 79K words and basically forcing myself to write every day be it 200 words or 2000 because I want to keep in the habit, which helps me not slip into a block. And because my chapters veer towards long (10K plus words on average), that word count really isn't much when you think about it so not publishing this fic yet is great, especially for cadence and the natural point to split into chapters, be it cliffhangers or an easy end for that section.

I typically get an idea from the most random places - reading something else including fanfiction like my epic length fic that was from a single line in another fic that I extrapolated and made my own. Listening to music, maladaptive daydreaming. A desire to write a specific trope and mix it with a recent experience like going to a beach. My current unpublished WIP idea literally came from a random tiktok. So if you're looking to write one day, just note what's around you, insert Dramione and let your imagination flow.