The QUESTION has been asked. When composing fiction which is best, to free write or to outline? What I question is why do writers assume that the two methods of story writing are mutually exclusive? And, while we're on the subject, why to writers seem to think that there are only two ways to create?

I've heard writers describe the creative process every way from molding clay, to mastering a symphony. Clearly, using a metaphoric form to envision the evolution of a story is a common technique. And instead of a static text based outline, why not use a color coded, spreadsheet that lays out the plot lines of all the primary characters? If you don't like spreadsheets, well the old fashioned way is to use color coded index cards for the same effect.

A writer can use any one of these methods or all of them together to work out different parts of her story.

However, you do it, Composing means taking control over the elements of your craft and putting them together in a meaningful assemblage. Writing is not the structuring of words into sentences until they pile up enough to be a manuscript. Plotting is more than stringing a list of events together from beginning to end. A story is about John and John's problem and the #*%!*!!#?!! who keeps John from solving it. And now . . . what's John going to do next? Getting from beginning to end can take more than a little strategy but writing with a game plan doesn't mean that you have to kill off the creative flow that free writing releases.

I think of my story as a main character's symphony of life so I start thinking about a life for John. The metaphoric symphony is designed around movements. In a short work, a movement can be a couple of paragraphs, in a novel it can take several chapters. Unlike building from scene an sequel, it's not a specific, point by point execution of an idea, it's just a general form through which the story unfolds.

First, I need a prelude that establishes John's time and place. Usually, what's intimated about John is that he has a budding problem that he doesn't recognize.

Then I have a first movement which places John's life in motion with the lives of the other important characters. And I introduce the inciting incident that causes John to recognize his problem.

Now, I need the first interlude, where John recognizes the problem but underestimates what it's going to take to solve it.

In the next movement, John would try to solve his problem but the #*%!*!!#?!! has the upper hand. All of John's attempts fail (there should always be more than one), which leaves John at an emotional low and greatly discouraged.

Second Interlude! John gets his big break. John learns something, finds something, is given something or makes a new friend. In the second interlude, something happens to give John renewed hope and excites him and swings him from emotional low to emotional high. The more manic his emotional swing, , the more smashing is the ending conclusion.

Final movement. John and the #*%!*!!#?!! collide about the problem. John may win on one front , but success results in a deeper, more meaningful problem. By then, John is a wiser man. He finally has the understanding and ability to resolve his issue. Now . . . what does John do next? On to smashing conclusion.

Metaphoric forms are not formulas. Go rent some videos. Compare, Mrs. Doubtfire, Braveheart and Gone Baby Gone. All three movies follow a similar form but not any one of them is written from a formula.

Writing from formula is like ordering a new car that looks like that cool one your neighbor is driving. Engineering a new kind of car, is knowing that no matter how original your design, you still need an engine, a place for people to ride and a steering wheel. Oh. . . and brakes. It just doesn't do to go riding around in a car without brakes and a means to steer.. And so it is with writing. For all your hard work to be effective, you have to keep it on the road.

For every movement, interlude and even the prelude, I set up hanging files in a storage crate by my desk and a I open similar virtual folders on my electronic desktop. Then I free write. Not from beginning to end. Just write.

I write about John, what John feels, who John knows, what John thinks. I ask John questions and then I try to submerge myself in John's personality and let him write the answer. I write about the key characters and I ask them questions. I write scenes, conversations, snippets of conversations and just stuff that might end up being useful to the final composition.

At the end of every writing session, I print out a hard copy and file the different things I have written into the file folders I think they best fall in to. I cut and paste the word file into the desktop folders in the same way. Into my crate, along with the hard copies, will go research notes, reference materials, pictures, floor plans and just about anything else I collect that will help me write the finish manuscript. In the end, I have the bare notes of my symphony but I still need to compose them into the life of John and John's story.

At some point, I have enough material to start plotting the first movement. That's when I start my spreadsheet.

As a rule, since I write novels more than anything else, the spreadsheet tends to develop just a few steps ahead of the first draft. I don't worry about having a complete one. Just about getting a complete movement. Every principal character gets his own color. The plot line, itself is usually chronological and the events personal to each character are colorfully plotted at the point they would occur.

If someone is going to tell John that the #*%!*!!#?!! has done something that he should be aware of, I plot the point in time when the #*%!*!!#?!! does it. I might not actually write the scene, but I want to know when, so I can track John's knowledge base as his learning and understanding progresses.

Plotlines

• let me see the places where dramatic tension increases and tells me where the story can break to heighten suspense.
• make sure that all the characters are on their marks at the end of one movement ready to jump into the next one.
• let me see weaknesses and sometimes suggest the need for another character or show me that one character is really a clone of someone else.

Once I have firm ideas about how a movement will progress, I start writing the actual manuscript. When I get stuck, I do more free writing and I add stuff to my folders and I add to my spreadsheet. But I keep working.

I generally use outlines to help me write specific scenes or conversations, particularly if more than one key character takes part in them and I have to stay focused on whose viewpoint is going to prevail and what exactly, I want the episode to accomplish. Personally, I've never been able to make outlines work for me except in small places where I want the details to be exact.

The main point is, this is how I do it. All of these methods or none of them may be useful to you. The creative process is an individual experience. Some write high speed action serials and some write sensitive literary retreats. Use what works best for you, but don't limit yourself by trying to pour your creativity into a mold. Creative techniques are tools and tools should not define the master. The master wields the tools.