How do you do discovery writing?

Whatever gets the story done. In reality, everyone is a little bit of both(plotter and pantsers). You can pre-plan to death but something new is always going to come up that you didn't think of. Write it down, put it to the side and if it fits the direction your story is going weave it in. If it doesn't, no big deal.

Very few people are wholely pantser/discovery or plotter. You're almostnever going to be on one extreme end of scale or the other. I write like a road trip. I have an end goal and the major stopping points/twists in mind and as long as I keep moving towards them the story can wander in any way it wants for a more natural flow.

If your problem is length though, you might have to ask yourself is this plot suitable for a shorter story. Some stories just aren't short stories. Do you think something like LoTR could be condensed into a short story. I understand wanting to keep a story how it is, but some stories just aren't suitable fo shortening. Just like some stories just aren't suitable to make into a long story. One option is to split your story into arcs/books with distinct stopping points. If you know you story is going to be long, that means you have some sot of plan, find an arc and say "that's the end of season 1" and that way you can stop there if you don't feel like you can push on afterwards.

hmmm...there are different ways depending on what the issue is...like if it's a fantasy plot, and you don't know how to take the story to a certain direction, you can introduce a character that will turn the story that way, or introduce an event...if the next plot point revolves around a character, you have 2 ways to go, if the character is a villain you can try teasing a lil smth until you do a reveal, and if they're not a villain, one of the things you can do is have them sorta save the day...
its different and depends on genre, what the plot point we're going into is, and all that stuff...
but personally, if I can't get to the next plot point, I get stuck for a while until I find a descent way. So I guess being stuck is normal in this case. Just try to not rush it, and if you do, have an explanation in the story.
In my novel, I go from one character to another character very quickly and both characters were very easy to find out of like...so many people in the city, but I explained a lil limit that makes sense...so it works somehow

In my case i am a mix of plotter and discovery writer.

I plan the key events of the story beforehand, but i discovery-write character's dialogues and reactions.

Also, i make the characters write the plot: For example i think of what my characters want and what are they capable and willing to do to get it, based on that they make decisions that affect themselves, other characters and the world around it.

So my characters are both, proactive and reactive (some may lean more towards one or another depending of their personality).

I'm not sure how you're disagreeing? You're making the arguement both sides can have elements of the others, which was literally my point, that you're almost never going to find people at the extreme ends of the scale where there is literally no planning or literally everything planned.

And if whether you outline or not is the only tthing you consider important, fine, but what counts as an outline or not? That's why I consider it a sclaes.

I've very rarely met a person who sits down to write a novel with literally no ideas for characters, plot or world and just said "hey let's wing it" although it is more common to see someone with binders and binders of wolr dbuilding, character sheets and plot points that they never waiver from. I think the idea that you're one or the other probably fuels people trying to "prove" their style is better. If we're accepted people study and learn in different ways, why don't people accept people write in different ways and how you do it will likely be somewhere on a scale from "hey let's wing it no idea" to "I have literally everything plotted out".Some things you might plan, somethings you might discover. And often a mix of the two is useful since pantsers often have better characters and flow but a problem with pacing and endings and planners often end up with stiff characters and transitions but goot pacing and solid plot that doesn't wander. Some people like some outline. Or, like me, I like to know where my endgoal is, that's not really an outline, but it's still a plan. And what about people who have a plan but then don't rely on it?

This is why I consider it better to think of it as a scale. Because I see too many push their own style, pantsing or planning as the only way and you're only one of the other if you're at the extreme ends of either no plan or all the planning that you stick to rigidly. Neither is perfect, and it's fine for people not to fit into the extremes. Especially since pushing the extremes rather than a scale can make people feel like they don't belong in either conversation. The amount of times I've been told I'm not a pantser because i have an end goal and a few ideas for plot points so get out of this channel of the chat, that's a plan. But guess what, I don't have an outline, just a few jotted down notes of an end goal and some maybe plot points and a lot of winging it, so that's not an outline so I don't belong in the plotters chats either.

I only disagreed because I don't feel like it's necessarily helpful to push the idea that everyone is a mix of plotter and pantser. I think it adds to the confusion when you have people heavily push for reading writing books like "Save the Cat" or "Romancing the Beat" as the only ways to write and then you have people on the opposite side of the spectrum who are militant pantsers who refuse to accept that people think differently than them. But I think the discrepancy really just boils down to "Do you an outline to create your story?" That's it. I don't like outlines and all my worldbuilding is the result of natural/logical choices. Some stories I jot down notes, others I don't.

I do agree that people take both sides tend to take it to the extreme which makes it incredibly hard for newer writers to figure out the way that works best for them. It also ties back to a degree to my original point that these conversations get muddled when someone is trying to learn more about "discovery writing" or "intuitive writing" or whatever the new term is and then have people jump in with talks of outlines. I don't blame anyone. It just becomes confusing to follow.

*If you don't feel like you fit into either camp, I read an article a long time ago about the different types of pantsing. It was shared awhile ago in the forums that was written by a non-Tapas writer, but I don't know where it is, or else I'd share it again. The writer talked about the pantsers who still have some kind of notes, like character sheets, but pants from there. It was really interesting.

I dunno that still just sound like planning, (albiet minor planning but still planning) hence the argument. "Most writers are a combo of both, in one way or the other." They are still planning, but more planning their characters that going from there"

Funny meme time
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Honestly I just feel most people RARELY does everything off the cup or off a plan sheet. They at some point either wing it or plan for something in advance to have a coherent story that doesn't feel like a do list.

I dont think OP should discorvery write cus thier main issue seems to simply be worried about uncontrollable external factors and general ideas of how a plot functions. I more recommend them just make a simple out line (as bare as possible or as detail as possible) and just write and not not try to make it perfect. Maybe read other books similar to what he wishes to make

Focus on what did the characters accomplished and what could be next, it doesn't have to be as big as the previous points, it can also be a character driven arc, like devoted for a single or multiple character development

Hence what Im saying that it a spectrum. Planning is not "having a detail outline" its having notes and plots idea on on shape of form. Hence once again "VERY FEW" are one way or the other. Most people who claim to plan go off script or make additions later on and lots of people claim to discover have a plan or at least notes everywhere to help keep track of a story.

Once again thats the minority and that's okay.

As for Op... Its less the type of story they are writing and more the mentality. which I don't know...They have to deal with that anxiety of a perfect draft either on their own or with a friend who can help them get over that bump. Worrying about it being problematic or imperfect or poorly written is more an internal thing thay have to get over before they think about a writing style

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Other times the whole thing is written out scene by scene with little to no regard for cohesion and then you go back through the whole thing and edit en masse now that you have the whole story written out and you know what's happening later. You can delete entire scenes, write entirely new ones, change phrasing, add foreshadowing, scrub out bits that didn't end up panning out into what you'd originally intended, etc. etc.

No one method is going to work for every writer, everyone's gonna have personal styles and idiosyncrasies in their writing method just like they will in their actual prose, so you just kinda mess around until you find what works for you.

The other very simple option other than it's find it's it's not working, is back up. The best advice I ever got was "if you're got yourself in a corner, reverse out of the corner".

Basically, a lot of the time the problem is not actually the bit you're writing, it's the bit before the bit you're writing, so back up and find the actual problem.