Maius Intra Qua Extra

Yeah, not fond of reading introspections either, when it is only a character thinking about stuff but nothing ever happens. I find them boring. And I definitely could not write like others do, with those WIPs, and put them out chapter by chapter. I want to have my story finished before I publish it, as you often go back to the beginning to add/change something.

What I meant, sometimes I have an idea, and start writing, and I also know where I want to be in the end, what shall come out of it (someone learning something, someone changing his ways) but in the middle is a huge hole and I have no idea how to come from A to B. Then I let it sit for a few months and suddenly you have this idea and wonder why you didn't see it in the first place.

Or last Christmas, our German forum does an advent calendar with everyone contributing. They said, they don't have enough stories to fill each door. So I literally sat down and did the easist thing there is - writing about the Torchwood team helping filling the advent calendar doors, by using old mission reports and changing them into stories. I wrote it all from Jack's POV, who was told by Ianto about leaked information and tried to find the mole, until he had to realize his whole team was involved. Ianto included. And I came to the place where they tell him about it. So obviously Jack wonders, why telling him in the first place? He might have not found out if it wasn't for Ianto.

So I wrote "Why did they tell him all this? It did not make sense?", basically stalling for time, trying to give my brain a nudge. And it came in time with the next sentence and the obvious solution - so Jack could add some of his own stories as well. But I had not planned this when I set out to write it. So, sometimes they have their own lives, is all I'm saying!

I think real authors do it like you say also, writing down snippets, having a whole box full of bits and pieces, and use them whenever necessary.