Do you know precisely the subjects that you will talk about in your story, the theme(s) of your book, or do you just start with a story without knowing where it will lead you
And, do you begin with a basic storyline, with other subjects (unknown beforehand) that will graft on it as the story will progress, or do you set/detremine them upstream in a precise plan ?
Like Ritesh, Adrian and Jonathan, I'm a planner. I thoroughly enjoy the process and will spend weeks mind mapping, developing, structuring, creating character profiles and establishing the character arcs I want to achieve.
Once I have the story grouped into 3 sections, 2 thresholds, established the crisis points and the climax, I lay it all out on the floor using A4 sheets and post-its. Then I start writing using the plan to guide me but maintaining a level of flexibility to keep the story flow.
My planning bible has been The Writer's Journey by Chistopher Vogler.
I've also found Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell helpful to find my preferred style of writing.
Remember that not everyone is a planner... try out different approaches and find the one that suits you rather than try to fit into someone else's model.
Happy writing
I write a loose scene straight from the well of creativity.
Then I look at it objectively and see what potential it has.
After that I let it simmer for awhile, sometimes just days, but sometimes it needs weeks or months to bloom, but I always keep it in mind, letting the characters and plotlines develop.
Then comes the plotting stage and I plan out the plot points, black moment etc, work out how it is going to end and what steps take it to that point. At this point I put the characters down on paper and give them names and backgrounds.
I then fill in the scene details and check for dull bits before I start to write.
Throughout the writing stage things change, and I continually go back to my plan and move scenes around or add new ones, but being sure to keep the 25% 50% and 75% markers in place.
I plan too, chapter by chapter. But like Ritesh, the story changes as it's written with bits added here and there and others deleted if they're not working. So the finished book can quite different to the original outline.
As far as theme goes, that sort-of appears as the writing progresses, or seems to. I'm not sure if it's a subconscious thing: maybe a particular idea stays with us and colours what we write. In any case, so far I've found theme doesn't really make itself known until the story's finished. Weird.