Here's what I do. I usually start with a dream. When I wake up, if I've dreamt something interesting I write down a brief sketch or scene or even just an image

Here's what I do. I usually start with a dream. When I wake up, if I've dreamt something interesting I write down a brief sketch or scene or even just an image in a google doc. Then I mull it over for a few weeks, adding new ideas and details to the doc. I love to use the time that I'd otherwise be using for insomnia. If I find myself awake in bed, I spend time tuning the idea or the scene until I fall back asleep. Then I write it down in the morning. Pretty soon I have a plot or a basic outline or just an idea for a beginning or an end. Then I continue to chew on it until a specific first sentence strikes me. Then I drop everything and start writing like a maniac. When I'm going on the writing, I try to let the characters live and let the story go where the characters take it, knowing that they'll eventually end up at the signposts I've set up in the initial sketch. I always use a trick that Hemingway used: stop writing for the day when you know what's going to happen next. That way you'll start right off again tomorrow and not get stuck. I've written three books this way and I'm writing two more now. I've started a publishing company and published one so far. I'm working on ushering two more through that process (editing, editing, editing, typesetting, etc). That's a whole other story, and just as important. EDIT: I have a day job (most of the time) as a developer, I do this in my spare time and between gigs.