I think my ending may have slipped into a fourth field now. I think I am just going to have to see where it ends up. The more I write, the less I know where this is going. I have already decided that a scene that was to be at the end after the whole climax is now going to be near the beginning.
Now how am I going to wrap things up?

Note that both Stephen King and Dean Koontz start with a situation and then write forward from that point, not knowing what the ending or journey will be. Others find it easier to have some general points mapped out, maybe just an idea of the ending. Others, like Jeffery Deaver, find they need extreme detail before they can begin to write scenes.

However, if you think about it, these folks aren’t doing different things. They’re both discovering/generating story. It’s just that one set finds they’re more productive doing it with an outline, in summary first. The other finds it more effective for them to do it immediately in scene. I’ve found it useful to look at the task as inventing story, not writing vs. outlining. Those are just two tools.

So there isn’t a best way. Only the most efficient and effective way or tool for you. So knowing the end may NOT be necessary for you.

I’ve found that I work best if I do some of my story discovery/generation in outline first. I use a step sheet–bullets of the plot steps I see. Maybe no more than a few pages that I update and revise as I go. Sometimes the step sheet has bullets for scenes all the way to the end. Sometimes it just shows me the next half-dozen to dozen steps in detail and vague ideas after that. Many people eschew outlines, thinking they’re contraining. But they’re only contraining if you think they’re set in stone. I find both tools useful in discovering my story.

http://mbarker.livejournal.com/94106.html

That seems to me to be the sort of approach you’re talking about, and no, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not going to work for everyone, but as long as it works for you, who cares?

Oddly enough, I already have three different endings for the current story I’m working on, All three of them required totally separate outlines to work. I am going with one that is oddly the blend of the other two less the other characters that were necessary for either one to work.

However, Dan, I feel like I should throw you into the mix, just so I can have the bad guy kill you off in a completely pointless way that has no bearing on anything. Yes, a nice senseless brutal death, with much torture and screaming. Mmmmmmm

Sounds like you’re describing the same thing I did. Like I said, I have a basic idea of how my story is going to end and a couple of checkpoints–act endings, I guess you could call them. I’m trying to guide the plot there but if it wants to noodle on the way I let it. I don’t think it’s bad planning. That’s what discovery writing is supposed to be about I think. I compare it to going for a drive. You’re going to end up at the mall eventually but first you’re going to drive around and look at some pretty fall scenery.