Do I plot? No. Never. And here's why.

I've just been asked whether or not I plot my stories, and the answer I gave (the only answer I could give) seemed to be rather perplexing to the questioner.

Do I plot? No, actually. Well, yes, kind of ... maybe a little.

The fact is I tend not to plot anything. From time to time I may make notes, but only if my head's at absolute bursting point with ideas. Sometimes it's a couple of paragraphs. Sometimes more. Mostly though, I let the whole thing grow as it needs to grow.

The same can be said of my short story process. A great many of them were destined to be flash fiction pieces that grew and grew and grew until I had something like 4,000+ words. The truth: I never quite know where I'm going until I get there.

That being said, the only portions of a story I might note down are the big plot points. And, again, only in small chunks. I don't always like to know where I'm going. But I know enough to know that if everything's moving all right within the story, somewhere along the line it'll lead you all the way to the end.