UPDATE: The link to the Naomi Novik interview doesn’t seem to be working. Here is is, spelled out: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31183
Here, as well, is a Charlie Huston interview, where he has this to say about outlining: The way I work—I have a beginning, a basic concept of who some of the characters are, [and] I have a clear idea of the ending. If I get a cool idea, I go with it, not worrying about how [the character will] get out of it. I just write it. Shove him into a corner and then figure out how to get him out of it. It all seems to go. The worst times are [when] you have a place where you can go four or five different ways, and if you go down one of those directions, it’s going to be hard to come back out. Those are the hardest moments for me. It comes down to saying you’ve got to commit to it. Close your eyes and run down the hallway. If it’s a dead end, it’s a dead end.