generally we go brainstorming -> outlining -> writing. for a fic like tboyl which was relatively contained and didn't have a lot of plot, really, we got to the writing stage pretty fast, because we could kind of make calls and plans as we went, a little. but tsgel has so much lore, so many characters, and so much going on, that we were brainstorming and outlining for like. 6 months. before we started actually writing.