I wrote 50,000 words of fiction by the seat of my pants, and now I'm rewriting the whole damn thing. If only I had written an outline.

Stephen King wormed his way into my head and convinced me that the story must unravel itself. The magic is in the mystery, and the characters will tell you where they want to go.

There is value in letting your mind wander while you write, but it might kick you in the ass later when you need the story to make sense.

Plotting is scary.

The pressure to know everything about your story is intense. You must consider character, plot, theme, and the I-didn't-see-that-coming ending.

If my characters tell me who they are and what they're going to do, it's their fault if the story sucks — not mine. Right?

Wrong. It's my job as the writer to write a good story.

How does a writer get over outlining fear when "pantsing" doesn't cut it?

Permit yourself to think.

Plotting, outlining, blueprinting — or whatever you want to call it — is just thinking.

Forgive yourself for not writing chapters yet. Praise yourself for making a plan on how you're going to write an enthralling story.

Write down your thoughts.

You've considered your character's deepest desires and come up with an undeniably good plot. You can picture what the world looks like.

Write it all down.

Organize your ideas.

An outline is just organized thoughts. When you collect your ideas before writing, you'll be able to produce more quality words in less time.