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There is no One True Way. Every writer is different. Even the same writer may have two different approaches to two different books (or series). JK Rowling plotted out the entire seven-book Harry P...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/21817 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/21817 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
There is no One True Way. Every writer is different. Even the same writer may have two different approaches to two different books (or series). JK Rowling plotted out the entire seven-book Harry Potter series in her head on a train ride before writing them, but is still working on the Robert Galbraith books (which, so far as I know, do not encompass a single arc). JRR Tolkien created his Elven languages and then made up the LOTR universe to have people to speak them, but then separately created _The Hobbit_ as a bedtime story for his children. Some writers must do a lot of background work (universe, character, plot) before writing. Some must jump in and see where the story goes organically. Neither is wrong; neither is right. You have to do what works for you and the story you're telling right now.