Organic or Outline?

I tend to be an organic writer.

In other words, I conceive an idea and begin writing. I don't spend weeks or months carefully plotting out what-happens-next. I simply write.

There's a downside. I sometimes write myself into a corner. I seem to be particularly adept at writing a knock-out, leave-you-breathless chapter ending, only to have no idea what's happening next.

What was that unusual sound? Why was Mr. Blankensnort standing by the lake without any clothes on? Who screamed? What's around the bend? How is this all related, anyway?

It can get messy.

Naturally, I've always got a notebook on hand. Notebooks are for working out plot points, scribbling down backstory, making sure everything works. In that sense, I suppose I'm not one hundred percent organic, in that I do need to stop from time to time and get back to my little notebook.

But there are those writers who plan down to the last quotation mark exactly what's going to happen, chapter by chapter. They've got a beginning, middle, and ending, all roughly outlined and ready to be developed into a well told tale. Once the grunt work is done, it's a matter of letting those words flow.

I admire writers like that.

But I also admire writers who can sit down and spin a tale without having to work so hard before they start. For some, the gift of storytelling comes easily. Complicated plots and subplots are a matter of course, like eating three meals a day and putting gas in your car. They're part of your day, and you don't have to think really hard each time you do one of them.


For me, the writing part comes more easily. It's the storytelling that makes me sweat. Even still, I'm at my best when I'm writing organically, trusting the details to work themselves out as I go. And when I do have some behind-the-scenes things to figure out, I actually enjoy crawling into bed early with my notebook and pen, in order to work out my latest story, develop my latest character, solve my latest problems. Dozing off notwithstanding, it can be a highly productive time.


So tell me -- are you organic or outlining? Or a synthesis? Or neither?