I outline fairly extensively because I'm usually dealing with real events. I don't need to give myself as much information as I used to, but I still like to have two pages of outline for every projected 100 pages of manuscript.

Storylines are how characters create the plots involved in their stories.

Common folk didn't have last names in the 8th and 9th centuries.

Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?

I'm not a good collaborator in general.

Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing.

I think it is probably more important to attend specialized conventions for a journeyman writer than any other, but it's useful at all stages of a career, if for nothing else, to find out how the industry is working at any given time.