outlines

"I am in one hundred percent agreement on the subject of outlines. Any writer who works by outline should be burned at the stake. Possibly with their own outline and notecards used as kindling."

So sez the title character in the new Joe Hill book, The Fireman. Methinks Joe has something against outlines. Ok, perhaps it really was just the character talking and Joe doesn't think that at all, but still that sure reads pretty forceful. 

In any case, I'm firmly of the belief that there is no correct way to write--you experiment and find what works for you, and then if it stops working, you experiment some more until you find something again that works. I've never found outlines useful myself; I tried it with the second novel I drafted and quickly discarded it when the novel took a life of its own. Never used one for a short story, even when revising. But that's just me, and I'm not adverse to them. 

Anyway, the quote caught my eye and made me laugh. Use and outline or follow a thread and see where it leads, it doesn't matter, just write. Write, write, write.