After five years of slogging I’ve completed my first novel and I know without a doubt what enabled me to reach this point - the point where I'm ready to face the publishers.

Along the way I gave a lot of thought to the process, read up on the methods of published novelists and exchanged thoughts with a few of them, as well as with many yet unpublished novelists.

I’m not sure if there is one sure-fire method, but I discovered that many - probably the majority - of published novelists begin without an outline. In my experience, the crucial component is the theme.

I belong to two writing groups - one Internet-based and one “real life” - and I’ve seen many novels begin strong and wither away. You can have the greatest outline in the world, but if you lose interest in your work an outline won’t help. For me the driving force is theme.

Theme not only motivates me but keeps me on track better than any outline. I kept writing until the characters developed and the plot emerged. At that point I did develop an outline to keep on track, but theme came first.