I plotted out my story up to where I am now and I recently had to outline this next section. I didn’t do too much with the romantic subplot because I wanted to see where I could go with it. My best ideas come when I’m winging it. I’m familiar enough with my story and where I want it to go to have things fall into place
I do a mix of both: I will plot out the biggest major points of the story, but I just let things happen and see what comes out of what I feel works most naturally for the scenes and characters between those plots, so while I have the major points, everything else is just what I feel like writing to get to the next point of the story. Having an idea of where to start taking the story helps me from going off on mile long tangents and the story having almost no plot to it at all.
I'm the type that plot literally everything about the story before writing it down. Sometimes, I'll even plot key dialogues. I have a file where I write down whatever happening in each chapter, from start to finish, sometimes even mentioning what the characters talk about. Though, it's mostly a detailed "what's happening in this scene, what's happening next". The actual dialogue, the detailed setting, and all that will flow naturally as I write them down. Sometimes, the details can be different from what I have planned, but it won't affect the story's plot in general.
The reason why I'm doing that is to be sure I don't get writer blocks along the way, especially if I've published my stories online. It also prevents me from discontinuing my story, and it is easier to maintain a scheduled update. For example, the novel I'm posting now is pre-written. It's already finished, though still not fully published.
On the other hand, the downside for me is that I'm too laid back to myself. Since the story I made is plotted from the start, I don't brainstorm too much along the way. It's like having a cheatsheet on your test. If I forgot what to do next, I can look at it and know what is next. And, with my story, for example, there's no deadline for myself since I have written down everything. So, yeah.
Though, since I posted in Tapas, I feel the urge to try "pantsing". Perhaps, I would love to do it at least once, just playing around the characters! I'm not gonna jump right into it with heavy setting, but maybe, a little slice of life can be my start on it.
I'm a pantser and entirely unapologetic about it 
Not saying it's objectively better than plotting, just that it's better for my disorganised self. I also find that if I'm trying to squish my writing into a framework it stresses me out a bit, though in all fairness I daydream so much I'll end up plotting a bit whilst zoning out and have an idea of where I want things to actually go.
TBH the only things I ever set in stone are when I come up with a character or a bit of lore, I'll make notes of everything I can about them just so they at least stay consistent if/when they come up again.
Welcome to Tapas, @Amadeus.
I think I'm half and half in regards to plotting vs. pantsing, but have begun a gradual transition towards the former.
In earlier stories, I did a lot of pantsing. But there were times when I'd painted myself into a corner with the plot or had difficulty (re)connecting events as things developed, which slowed my writing. For quick, short stories (I'm writing a horror anthology), I found pantsing to be the most effective -and fun- if I wanted to create something with a visceral, splatter-punk feel to it.
As I'm starting to experiment with other types of horror and lengthier stories, I'm plotting more regularly with the exception of dialogue, I just let it flow naturally. I edit it down later and stick to "less is more" rule where I can. Each approach definitely has its pros and cons. Once in a while, I just walk the tightrope.
How do you find this site so far?
I usually start out pantsing and then go back and do some outlining once I have a sense of what the story is. Actually, I usually start out with some semi-developed characters and maybe a vague plot idea and then just kind of...let them write themselves for awhile and see what direction they seem to want to go in. By that point I usually have some major plot points in mind and I just need to figure out how to connect the dots, which is where the outlining comes in.
I know I did both in my story. Pantsing for the dialogue parts but outlining for the plot beats for the story. It really depends on the story through I might change it around for the second part of my novel series.
If you're new to writing i definitely recommend to try both methods. You absolutely won't know what kind of writer you are until you do. There is also no right or wrong way to write (aside from obvious grammatical structure LOL)
I've done both and I found that I'm just a natural pantser. Even the story I fully plotted out I still got to points in the story where I was all "Hmm, what if I did this instead" and pansted my way through it. It's just what feels natural to me and I know that any plot holes or issues can be fixed in edits. Now if I ever do those edits is debatable (because I probably won't ever publish so the majority of my books will be one draft and done) but plot issues still can be fixed so I just don't worry about it.
What I will do is the closer I get to the end (like we're taking 3 or 4 chapters away) I'll make myself bullet points of things i want to cover through to the end just to keep me from rambling too much. And if I get stuck along the way then I'll spend some time plotting it out. I've written myself into a couple of corners that make me sit there and think "Ok...how do I get out of this in a way that makes sense to the story?" So i'll spend a few days (or hours if it's not a big hole) until I figure it out.
I've also seen the analogy stated as gardener vs architect.
I generally have an overall (but often vague) idea of where I want a piece to go, but I don't like to plan out the details too much in advance. Sometimes that results in writing sections I end up throwing out later. Sometimes it ends up being a different story than what I originally intended to write (sometimes a better story). But often enough, it allows enough room for the characters to kind of take over and give it a life of its own that would have been lacking had I tried to force it all to conform to a 78 point outline. I like to leave room for the characters and story to grow as needed.
I plot mostly because if I didn't writer's block would get the best of me and I would never finish my stories. I do leave space for myself to improvise details as I go, though. Most times they are simply for enrichment but sometimes I'll find myself liking one of those a lot and developing it, which leads to more plotting to make sure it fits well with the rest of the plot
Yeah, it is probably dependent on the individual author and their creative process. I also have those significant lines that pop into my mind too 
I used to do a lot more worldbuilding than I do now, too. I think that kind of in-depth fictional culture designing is fun, but it is so time consuming. Some people are also good at designing worlds and settings, but not good at structuring coherent narratives, and vice-versa. I totally agree that it is tricky to translate a well thought-out world into a story easy to digest as a reader.
I am glad you are getting into story writing! I hope my post was not too confusing. I did not mean to use a bunch of loaded terms that require background information
Oh yeah, that is definitely the approach to take I think. Especially if you are writing character-centric dramas or romances, letting the characters' personality and motivations drive the plot instead of the writer is essential.
Rough outlines are usually helpful, but winging it lets you write the kinds of twists and turns you would personally enjoy reading yourself. I agree
That is interesting. So you probably write out bullet points for arcs and then the smaller arcs sort of fit together into a larger narrative? That is an approach I have not tried yet, but I have seen it done successfully in lots of media (comic serials and shonen manga come to mind).
For the story I am posting now, it is exactly the same situation you described. I am editing chapters a bit, but everything was written two years ago.
Slice of life (or just a modern, realistic setting )certainly seems like the easiest way to make a good pantsed story. Maybe it is because the worldbuilding is done for us already? But even with the pansting approach, I think we can carefully construct a narrative that does not just feel like a series of "and then" statements. I am curious how many other authors are pantsing stories they publish here.
No need to apologize for pantsing stories! It is just as valid of an approach, no judgement here.
I also agree that keeping notes is important, otherwise I would probably forget stuff later.
I like to see it as I made lists for point A, B and C, but space between them I just write however I feel. Imagine a piece of paper with three points drawn on it marked A,B and C and were told to connect them with a single line: most people would just draw straight lines connecting them, in terms of a story that would be a very short, cut and dry 100% plot focused story with nothing else, I like to have some fun in how I draw the line between the points.
Side-stories within the major one evolve and develop as the story progresses, but because you're always on track to that next point, you never hit a spot in the story where it seems dry, drawn-out or boring. You do have to be warry of going off on tangents though.
