Different stories, Different methods
With Summonings Wanted, the "Princess" story I started with an idea and wrote about a third of the story before I did anything regarding an outline. Even then all I really did was figure out a very rough sequence of events and write down the conclusion. If anyone's interested the story's posted in the "Share Your Work" section of Absolute Write under science fiction and fantasy.
Now with Orc's Drift I find I'm not only doing more outlining, but that I'm explicitly outlining the character arc as well as the plot. At this point I don't know if it's a better method for writing a short story, but it's definitely a different one. I'm also working more slowly on this story than I did on the other and I'm not sure why. I don't think either story is going to turn out spectacularly better than the other (though I could be wrong-- one could merely turn out spectacularly worse than the other).
If I had to guess, I'd say it's just a reflection of the differences between the stories: the only things they really have in common is the English language and the past tense.
Now with Orc's Drift I find I'm not only doing more outlining, but that I'm explicitly outlining the character arc as well as the plot. At this point I don't know if it's a better method for writing a short story, but it's definitely a different one. I'm also working more slowly on this story than I did on the other and I'm not sure why. I don't think either story is going to turn out spectacularly better than the other (though I could be wrong-- one could merely turn out spectacularly worse than the other).
If I had to guess, I'd say it's just a reflection of the differences between the stories: the only things they really have in common is the English language and the past tense.