I had an interesting experience on Tuesday.  I went to work in the morning, and started rereading the scene I had written the day before.  The scene had been fighting me, and I couldn’t figure out why.  As I reread I suddenly realized that this particular professor wasn’t giving a standard lecture.  He was reacting to a profound change that had occurred at this military academy, and that this was off the cuff.   I went back and just subtly changed the emphasis and the focus.  Most of the dialogue stayed exactly the same, but suddenly the scene came to life.

As I was writing I also realized that what I was doing was foreshadowing events that were going to happen in book 3.  That made me jump up out of my chair and do a happy dance.  I don’t think you can rely completely on your subconscious.  I think you have to plot, but damn within the cracks around the plot you can let your subconscious work, and it will probably help you deepen and intensify your writing.