LitMistress:
Oh boy, I love talking about my writing process, thanks for asking.
Most my stories (unsurprisingly) stem from my own fantasies, what I find most enjoyable. Usually just scenes will crop into my head, and I'll give it a lot of thought and see if it can expand.
TBH, most can't. The most they can be is short stories, if not just basically one scene.
Thanks for the very thoughtful reply, LitMistress. Would you ever post any one shots or is there a reason why you prefer to post longer stories with a plot and some form of overarching meaning? Just curious because I enjoy reading a lot of one shots and stories that don't go beyond well written smut but find that sort of thing difficult to write myself. Most of my stories either start with a scenario or a weight gain story trope that I'd like to put my own twist on but find it impossible to proceed without a sense of who the characters are as for me this informs the power dynamic between the main characters and where the main conflict/tension of the plot comes from.
I guess it's just human nature to admire/envy people who have skills that you lack but over time I've stopped feeling deprived of being a more prolific pure smut peddler and just leaned into being more character focused. I've definitely found it's been a benefit of getting back into writing after a long hiatus that it's not that difficult to pick up stories where they were left off because it's fairly easy to slip back into characters and in a way they "tell me" what's going to happen next.
LitMistress:
Once I know what it's about, once I know it has legs, an outline kinda just forms in my head? I know the ending of any longer piece I make (except a few of the earlier ones... wonder why I didn't finish them. Though I do know DD's ending, I just had Life come up which kept me from completing it... yet). I know the major "tent poles" if you will, the major moments that drive the story. I don't always know the smaller moments and I feel like I discover a lot along the way. Sometimes I have to change tent pole moments when I've realize my story no longer built to them or my characters no longer did (i.e. Did you know Ari in TBTH was supposed to have a brother that passed away? Of course not, it later proved to not be important to the story).
Ah yeah, Dream Dungeon was a great story. Hopefully you'll find the time and mental/life space to finish it. Just wondering what's the most unexpected way one of your stories has changed during the writing process?