Authors - Do you know the end in advance ...?

I'm not sure if I've answered this already, but if so my answer may have changed.

For long stories I usually have an outline (to track and plot events if nothing else), but for shorter ones I'll sometime just start with a sentence and go from there. Sometimes work out several variations. Most times things fall apart because they lack a foundation, but other times they could serve as a foundation for a story.

For example, the other day I was playing around with:
Over the steady clickety-clack of the train came the unmistakable sound of flesh smacking flesh. There was no denying it. Someone in the next sleeper compartment was getting a spanking!

Which leaves a lot of room to play.

Who heard that sound? That's probably the first question that comes to mind. Was it a male or a female? Is the listener a teenager, a parent, or an unaccompanied minor (do trains allow those?), a couple on their honeymoon, a non-spanking family, a spanking family, a teenager (or kid) relaxing alone while the rest of the family is in the lounge car (being "timed out" while their partner in crime gets spanked), a conductor setting up the bed who has to decide if he's going to intervene, an international jewel thief in the middle of stealing a priceless gem - there are countless possibilities.

Then there's the question of who is getting spanked. That's either the first or the second question that comes to mind. Is it a couple having fun, a teenager being taught not to sneak drinks in the bar car, a young miscreant, a stowaway over a conductor's lap - again the list is nearly endless.

There are many different ways it could go and I ended up writing several paragraphs for several different variations. None of them are long enough or complete enough to post but might serve as outlines for a later story. Meanwhile it was fun looking at those words and making up all the details as I went along. Of starting to write not knowing if I was writing M/f, F/f, or F/m or if the listener was there as a witness or if the listener was going to get involved (either taking or giving a spanking).

Goodgulf

I usually get into the meat of the story before cutting to the bone (ending), but I find that I sometimes change the ending in mid-stream. I have one coming up that I did just that with. I think a good 85% of the time I do know.

Most of my stories start with the title and a few ideas. Sometimes I know how it's going to develop and end. Other times, I just let the story go where it takes me. On the whole, I prefer the latter, as it's more interesting and exciting. Of course, pretty much every story involves some CP - usually at the end!

In both of my stories published here, I had a general idea of how the story would end before I started writing them. With "What Heather Saw," I had it almost completely written in my head before I booted up my computer, primarily because I was dealing with the constraints of that particular story challenge.

I did have a couple of minor plot tweaks pop up when I was writing "Double Down Spanking," mainly because they tied up what I thought were some loose ends in the initial draft. But I knew how it would turn out, and it stayed roughly the same from the initial draft to what you eventually read.

I just hope for a happy ending.

Me too. A painfully happy ending!