Must we outline?

Anne on writing: I limit outlining and note taking because I don't really want to experience cathartic scenes until I write them. I don't want to drain away the intensity with note taking and dreaming about them. I want the heat to go right into the writing. So rather than describe my intentions in my hand written diaries, I often jot down the scene itself, dialogue, movement, what's happening. I don't write well from a distance. I have to be in it, feeling it, suffering it. And I'm confident that one scene has to flow from another. Overthinking can kill intensity, at least for me. The deeper philosophical or psychological meaning emerges as I write.

But again, there are no rules for all writers. A lot of ideas, scenes, developments spring into my mind while I'm reading other people's books. I have to stop, and reach for my diary. Indeed, if ideas and scenes don't come to me while I'm reading, well, I don't usually keep reading the book. Spy novels, thrillers, deeply inspire me because they always feel metaphorical to me.