I'm not nearly as methodical as Bob (which I'm sure doesn't surprise him given that we have very different personalities, me being on the spontaneous end of the spectrum--seriously, I was tested). I start with an interesting situation plus an idea of where I want the story to end. I'm often stuck for weeks or months while I try to figure out whether there's an entertaining way to get from point A to point B. I could never outline every scene, because I seldom know what's going to happen until I start writing. My writing often goes out of order, with all-caps notes to myself stuck in between (LOIS BACKSTORY GOES HERE). For instance, my first story, Foreshadowing, started as the scene where Superman rescues Lois from the muggers. Then, at least for long stories, I often get bogged down partway through and have to start posting so that the feedback can give me ideas for the middle. For instance, it was the gentle readers who clamored for Lois and Martha to meet in The Man Under the Suit. I do always have a last scene in mind, and I won't start posting until I'm confident that I can finish the story. As far as editing, I do it as I go (thank goodness for word processors). I often reread what I've written before I start working on new parts, and I can't stand to leave a mistake sitting there. I have to correct it as soon as I see it. Of course, the last couple of steps are beta reading and correcting before posting to the boards. I also do a last read-through and sometimes some tweaking after a story has been posted to the boards before I send it to the archive.
