P.S.

Diana Gabaldon, author of the best-selling Outlander series, describes this process the same way in her podcasts, saying she sees something, the looks around it, describing it, then might realize something odd about her character, like that one of them is blind. Her approach to plot is piecemeal, seeing continents slowly emerge out of the ocean, first knowing something is there, then seeing the very tips of the mountains emerge, then the sides, then the plains, then the valleys, and at last there’s this whole massive landscape, dripping and new-formed. Though one must have the skill of an archeologist and patience of a research scientist to get there.