Going from 'Dexter' to 'Powerpuff,' there was a lot of DIALOGUE, there was a lot of... you know, we did action, of course, but I was getting burned out on the words, and both shows had this BIG, THICK black OUTLINE.

What I do is creative. It doesn't seem like that when I'm playing a piece that was written in the past, but the SCORE is just the OUTLINE and everything in it is relative. The key is to make this piece written by someone else belong to you and then connect to the audience.

The way that people have gotten on BOARD with me is the most encouraging thing in the world, but it's all very connected to the 14 YEARS I've been on TOUR with Steel Train, EVEN my band before that, Outline, and then fun. and now Bleachers.

What I have to OUTLINE is ACTION and PLOT because I'm not PARTICULARLY GOOD at that.

I don't OUTLINE; I listen to a KIND of WHISPER inside the MATERIAL.

I OUTLINE and outline and outline, and then I'm very SPECIFIC about the STUFF I WRITE. That's my PROCESS.

All my WRITER FRIENDS outline their BOOKS, and I FIND that hard. It doesn't feel INSPIRED to me. I get bored with that, and really, I just want it to be fun.

I've found that in fiction - and this is just the kind of writer I am - I can't really work from an outline. I have a vague IDEA of the characters at the BEGINNING of the book, and then I have a vague idea of whatever the end of the book will be, but I can't APPROACH creative nonfiction like that.

For me it's more important that I outline all the facets of a controversial ISSUE and let the reader MAKE up his or her mind. I don't CARE if readers CHANGE their minds, but I would LIKE readers to ask themselves why their opinion is what it is.

I do BETTER just letting the STORIES DEVELOP. I don't outline very well, and I can't follow it if I do. Once I've outlined it, why write the DAMN book?

I WRITE STUFF down. I have a chalkboard in the kitchen where I will scrawl stuff down if I have a faint outline of an IDEA. And I'll go into my office or WHATEVER. But that goes from format to format.

If you do OUTLINE, you have to be AWARE of the problems that that kind of THING can cause.

The way that I write novels in PARTICULAR is I don't usually OUTLINE; I just write. Part of the fun is discovering what's HAPPENING in the STORY as I'm going along.

I usually start with an ending, then outline high points of things that HAPPEN, and KIND of make up the rest as I go along. Occasionally, the characters SURPRISE me, and I WONDER how we got here. Other times, the characters are STUBBORN and won't do something I want them to in the story.