Hi Toni! Sorry for the slow response. I do a presentation on, and have an article titled."The Subconscious Writer" and have discovered that many writers are pantsters and create as they go. You certainly don't have to outline or do a complex plot to write a good book. I'd go crazy if I had to do that 🙂

I'm so glad to know I'm not alone on the, 'create as you go,' bandwagon! Everyone tells me to outline, plot, and plan ahead, and while I do tend to have a destination for the story in mind most of my details and such happen as I go. 🙂

Hi Krystal! Thank you. Great to see you here.

You make a great point about how your mind works. Each writer has his/her own way of creating, and there's no right or wrong way to write. That's why (IMO) it's never a good idea to compare your writing process to those of other writers. Just saying . . . 🙂

I understand, Sharla. I forget stuff now, too, so I do keep notes. But I still tend to let the smaller details work themselves out as I write.

I'd much rather keep my notes in Scrivener on real stuff that I need to know about each character and get a few real-world facts sprinkled in for interest. My mind doesn't work the same way as my paranormal and fantasy writing pals'.

Yeah, I'm a panster too as far as the story goes, not so much on the world building or I'd forget stuff. 🙂

Sharla, I didn't keep many notes as I built my worlds for the SF and urban fantasy series. I'm a "panster" rather than a plotter, and tend to create as I go. I kept most of the facts in my head and made occasional notes, more for timelines. As I've gotten older, I find the need for a little more organization and have gone back to make notes as I've edited the books for release as ebooks. For the dark fallen angel series I'm working on, I do have a binder filled with research, story arc, blurbs for each book in the series. So, depending on the person, a notebook is probably a good idea.