Decided this would be easier in a long thread so now I will start, @theopholus

First, I never start anything unless I know the ending. I don't mean the wrap up, falling action, but the actual exciting climax.

The next thing I ask myself is "What is the theme of this book?" What is it I want to impart about the human condition? The human heart in conflict with itself as William Faulkner wrote.

My short hand for this is "Plot is the shit that happens. Theme is why it matters."

I then look at my cast of characters -- protagonist, antagonist, supporting players, love interests etc. I then pick out a different colored pen for each of them.

I start thinking about their views on life, the problem that the book will address, their relationships, how they might connect, and I try really hard to put myself in the mindset of my villain and try to cast him/her as the hero, because they are in their own story.

Now I'm ready to start. I have used both white board and cork board with cards. I prefer the cards/cork method. It's easier to make changes when you just have to pull down or move a card.

I put up headers on my board -- Teaser, Act I, Act II, Act III (most of my novels work out as teaser and 3. (Spec scripts are different there I usually go with a teaser and 4 or 5 acts.) I suppose if you were writing a big fantasy tome I'd go with teaser and 5.

I then go to the end of act three and I put up that big final scene. I then go to the teaser, and write down the opening that I hope will convince a reader to buy my book instead of a six pack of beer.

I then try to figure out what is the final scene of act 1 and the final scene of act 2. Because if you know where you are going it's much easier to know what scenes you will need to get there.

Then I start to fill in those, what I call, tent pole scenes. They're the fun ones in between the Kansas/Nebraska scenes that have to be there but aren't as interesting or exciting. The Kansas/Nebraska scenes are sort of the mortar if you will between the big flashy scenes.

When I'm writing a screenplay I put up every scene. You really can't do that with a novel so you pick the big important scenes.

Remember I mentioned the different colored pens (way back before you started reading this really looong tweet. The reason for that is you have a visual of when you lose track of a character.

If their color vanishes off the board it means you need to find something for them to do or it might mean you don't need that character or they are not the right character to have a major role in this story & there may be some other supporting player who would be more interesting

The advantage for me using this method (which I learned in Hollywood) is that when I go into my office each morning I can look at the outline & I know what scenes I'm writing that day. I do not find myself going down dead ends because I've seen those coming in the outline stage.

I was trained as a lawyer before becoming a writer so I always outlined, but learning how to do a Hollywood "break" really honed those skills.