Fountain of Knowledge

With stories, I just write. Then again, pretty much all of my stories are 1,000 words or under.

With my novels, I start to write, but I also start an outline. The outline isn't very detailed, it just says, like the novel I'm working on now, Chapter One: Clara Rose finds out she is wanted and she thinks about escaping Savannah.

I also keep a character sheet, so I can remember what my characters look like! In the character sheet, I also talk about background information that might not come into the novel until a later chapter. It makes the characters real to me and that way, I can try to make them real to readers.

Of course, I'd rather just write with my novels, but having an outline (sketchy or detailed) is a good idea. That way you won't get messed up in your head when writing it.

Ashy