When starting a story, I write five questions in the margin of my notebook. Why does this story interest me? Whose point of view am I taking? What small detail could change everything? What can I leave unsaid? What feeling do I want to remain at the end? I do not expect answers straight away. The questions themselves help gather my thoughts.
Sometimes the first answer fills a page and the last is a single word. Returning to the notes helps me set aside expectations that do not belong to the story. The aim is not to solve every surprise in advance, but to remember what I am looking for. I still leave space for an unexpected detail to change those answers.
