Writers tend to report very different ways of working. Some plan out everything and write a huge synopsis, others sit down and write start to finish. Some iterate somewhere in between.
For my part I plan out the high level plot, and a list of scenes. At most a 2-3 pages synopsis.
Then I write start to finish. No exceptions: Scene by scene, paragraph by paragraph, without going back.
Interestingly seeing as you suggest writing is more dynamic and non-linear, that method of writing a novel - which I've used twice so far, and in-progress with the third - is a lot less dynamic and non-linear than the way I write code.
I rarely plan out at anything but the very highest levels when I write code. I sketch out components and fill in pieces of code as I need them, and stub out other things, and then I test, and then fill in some more.
I can't write that way. I find if I try to produce any kind of in-depth synopsis I just end up changing most things when writing the full scenes anyway. I need to know the details of what went before to fill in the scene I'm currently working on, so I can't work effectively on it until I've written the previous ones out fully.
Some people do write by jumping back and forth, so I'm not suggesting you're wrong for you, but that's just not how it works for me. When I revise my draft I similarly go through them beginning to end. When I get it back from the editor, I gather up the notes, decides what to listen to and what to ignore, and go through my draft linearly, beginning to end.
I used the same process. I wrote the novel from the start to the end, never reading back during the first draft if not for recalling certain details that affected the latter part of the story. Before starting I had just a subject of a couple of pages and a few main characters descriptions. All the rest happened while writing. But while the first draft is so much a matter of inspiration and letting things happen in front of your eyes, what comes next is a lot more similar to improving a large software system. Reading again and again, finding weak spots, improving, reiterating this process.
For my part I plan out the high level plot, and a list of scenes. At most a 2-3 pages synopsis.
Then I write start to finish. No exceptions: Scene by scene, paragraph by paragraph, without going back.
Interestingly seeing as you suggest writing is more dynamic and non-linear, that method of writing a novel - which I've used twice so far, and in-progress with the third - is a lot less dynamic and non-linear than the way I write code.
I rarely plan out at anything but the very highest levels when I write code. I sketch out components and fill in pieces of code as I need them, and stub out other things, and then I test, and then fill in some more.
I can't write that way. I find if I try to produce any kind of in-depth synopsis I just end up changing most things when writing the full scenes anyway. I need to know the details of what went before to fill in the scene I'm currently working on, so I can't work effectively on it until I've written the previous ones out fully.
Some people do write by jumping back and forth, so I'm not suggesting you're wrong for you, but that's just not how it works for me. When I revise my draft I similarly go through them beginning to end. When I get it back from the editor, I gather up the notes, decides what to listen to and what to ignore, and go through my draft linearly, beginning to end.