Sarah Mlynowski Quotes

I always know what I'm going to write before I sit down.

I like to have a title before I start writing.

I spend a lot of time outlining before I write the first word.

By the time I sit down ready to write, I've done a lot of longhand and a lot of note collecting along the way.

I'm a great believer in outlines.

I'm a big fan of outlining. Here's the theory: If I outline, then I can see the mistakes I'm liable to make. They come out more clearly in the outline than they do in the pages.

I am a big proponent of writing a great outline. That way you can avoid hitting a roadblock. There is no worse feeling than writing yourself into a corner but if you've figured it all out in the outline then you won't have that problem.

I have a very long pre-writing process where I'm jotting down ideas in a notebook and ripping out relevant newspaper articles - a long fact-finding mission.

I assemble my ideas in pieces on a computer file, then gradually find a place for them on a piece of scaffolding I erect.

The more work you put in on your outline and getting the skeleton of your story right, the easier the process is later.

I know some writers are meticulous planners, but I'm not one of them.

I like to write from scratch most of the time, but I like to have a backup plan just in case.

I really spend as long as I can sketching everything out and working on the structure before I sit down to type out scenes.

I have these huge black foam boards on the wall, and tacked to them, I have these white punch cards with my story ideas, scenes and notes.

And once I know what the first page is, then the rest will come.

I spend a lot of time preparing. I think a lot about what I want to do. I have prep books, little notebooks in which I write everything down before a sitting. Otherwise I would forget my ideas.

The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.

Don't write outlines; I hate outlines.

Normally I work out a general summary of what I mean to do, then start writing, and the details can be different from my anticipation. So there is considerable flow, but always within channels.

I'm always writing; I'm always jotting things down on paper or making notes in my iPhone. Then I'll make myself sit down and kind of shape it up, but there's really no other way to practice other than onstage.

The actual writing time is a lot shorter than the thinking time. I don't do too many notes. I keep it mostly in my head. I usually start writing a new book around January, and it's due October 1.

I used to be an obsessive outliner - figuring that writing without an outline was like jumping off a cliff and building a parachute on the way down.

I just write stuff down and pile it up, and when I get enough stuff, I spread it out and look at it and figure out how to use it.

I outline and outline and outline, and then I'm very specific about the stuff I write. That's my process.

I think that 60 percent of inspiration is organization.