John Grishman reportedly advised: "Don’t write the first scene until you know the last. This necessitates the use of a dreaded device commonly called an outline. Virtually all writers hate that word. I have yet to meet one who admits to using an outline."
But the pulp fiction writer Elmore Leonard is said to have shared: "At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about."
Thus, the question remains: "To outline or not to outline?" And the answer is: "Try both ways and use the method that works the best - for you as a writer."
