Story Planning / Advice - Comments

Typically my process goes a little something like this:
-Gets idea(s), is excited! Maybe writes a few scenes ahead of time (although sometimes I don't allow myself this.)
-Write down ALL of my ideas, not actually writing the scenes but writing down what goes down in them, writing down the over all concepts, plot, etc. Get all the important details of the story written down in my notes in some way.
-Do a rough outline.
-Sometimes do another rough outline.
-Sometimes, if a work is longer or if I just feel I need one, do a more detailed chapter by chapter outline.
-SOMETIMES I even do outlines for individual chapters, if said chapters are complex or if I get stuck on writing them.

Sometimes I begin writing before the full story outline is done, but sometimes I try to outline the whole thing before I start. Regardless, by the time I get to final edits of a work I most likely will have at least one solid outline to use as a guide to make sure the story went at least close to how I wanted it to and made sense and such.

EDIT: Oh, and I usually don't post stuff unless it is either done or close to done. I have, on some occasions, broken this self-imposed rule, but in all honestly I have pretty much always regretted it, at least a little, when I have.

@ PoeticMess.
Oh yeah, I think evolution in styles is definitely bound to happen. But thanks for sharing, that's super interesting. I really should start writing things down when I think of them instead of just assuming I'll remember them (I almost never do). I definitely have thought out specific scenes/phrases only to forget them when I get to that part in the plot. So thanks, I think I might start doing that now.

I totally agree with the stocking up of chapters. I haven't had too much success with that.

My planning style has changed SO much in the last couple years. I used to just write whatever came to mind, but I found that I would have to go back and do so much editing. When I first starting plotting things out, I would just do a bare-bones timeline of events. Or I'd map out the next few chapters. Nowadays though, I tend to map out the entire story. With my story, The Trajectory of Planes, I have the entire thing written out. It's a giant timeline that encompasses character evolution, everything that happens in each chapter, small scenes/phrases that I want to incorporate, etc. It's so much easier to pull all the plots/details throughout the entire story when I can actually see where it's all going to end up.

As for actually writing it, I tend to write one chapter and then post. I've always wanted to stock up chapters, but I find that hard to do because I'll write it in parts, edit it a few times, and then post it. It usually takes me awhile to go through the whole process, so it doesn't just get written and posted right away.