Talk:General Information/@comment-34296592-20180810202353/@comment-3452092-20180811043118

So very true. With my own fanfics, I have end in mind. I know it will take six "seasons" to get there (and a lot more years considering I have been writing the first season since 2007). I have a general plan for the first four seasons now with a one paragraph summary for each "episode" in each season, twenty-two episodes per season. I have that. I also have been working on one episode since 2011. I had a very difficult year in 2012 and it took a while to get back to myself and once that happened, I was stuck with that story. I am slowly remembering things I planned and didn't write down for some reason and I am slowly making it to the end of the story. I am currently in the middle of the big battle near the end that is the climax for the story, so I'm almost done and once I'm done with that one I have the next one planned out chapter by chapter. I even have the first chapter done, though it might change after this one is finished. Events of this one have already affected that one.

For my original works, I have been working on the same series for six years, actually starting it during that very difficult time in my life. Looking back on it, I think part of it was my way of coping with what happened. The story I just worked on a few months ago I was so sure I know everything I needed to know about it, but when it came to actually writing it, I basically threw all of that out the window, because that wasn't the way the story went. The base story was still there, but there was so much more to it. I found a character in it with a story to tell and he complicated things in an already complicated situation, because of who he was. And I didn't care, well, not a lot, because I really like this character.

Like @Fearless Diva said, there is always an element of brainstorming. Even those who are pure pantsers (I'm a plotser myself) probably have an element of what to do next while writing. It may not be as clear as plotters, but I assume it's there. Of course that could just be the plotter part of my plotser.