I find I take an engineer’s approach to my writing. I’m focused on the mechanics of what makes a salable product. I want to know the typical word count for a novel in the genre I’m intending to write. I want to know the expectations of readers in that genre so I can craft a novel that lovers of said genre will enjoy. If I know approximately how many words I need to write, and I know my average scene length (2,000 words), I know how many scenes I should plan to write. Then, as I’m laying out the key scenes, fitting them into the appropriate structure for the genre (the Three Act structure seems to be the most commonly used across multiple genres), I can see whether I already have too many subplots, or whether I need to develop additional ones. While I do outline, I don’t follow it slavishly. The story plan always changes as I write the actual scenes. But I like to know in advance that each scene is necessary, contributes to the plot, and that the major plot holes are filled in before I start the text of the manuscript.

This makes me a pariah amongst the purist writers who insist stories should arise completely organically, and that novels should be exactly long enough to tell the story that has arisen, and word count is for the editor to worry about. Ah, well.