Am I the only one who ditched detailed outlines for garbage first drafts?

I used to spend hours mapping out every plot beat, every chapter, every little twist before writing a single word. Like I'd have a 4 page outline for a 2000 word prompt and then get stuck when a character wanted to do something else. That changed last March during a prompt about a lighthouse keeper who finds a message in a bottle. I just started typing with zero plan, total chaos, and the story came out way more alive. Now I write the messy version first, then go back and fix the holes. The outline felt like control, but it was really just fear of writing badly. Anyone else find that planning less actually improved their endings? I'm curious if other folks do the vomit draft method or if I'm just lazy.

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victorbutler14d ago

Vomit drafts are the best, total freedom beats control every time.