Outlining; personal pros and cons

I didn't outline at all for the first story I tried to write, and it was a disaster. I messed up in the beginning and lost control of the pacing probably by chapter two. At one point, I tried that snowflake method, and I got so caught up on details before getting to the writing that I didn't actually write anything.

I wasn't sure what to do. From what little I could glean, writers fell into two camps: the plotters who spent as much, if not more time plotting than writing, and the pantsers who just sat in front of their computer and let a story flow out their fingertips. It seemed like I didn't fit into either category.

Then for my current WIP, I tried something I consider "new", but I'm sure that writers have been doing since . . . forever. I tried for a very flexible, evolving outline. First, I wrote down my loose concept and broke it up into twelve "chapters". At this point, I didn't concern myself too much with plot twists, rising arcs, or characterization. I just wanted to know what the story was going to be about. I let my rough outline sit for a couple of days, then came back to fill in more specific events and tried to break up the "chapters" into loose "episodes".

And I was ready to write.

I've just finished chapter five of my WIP, and I'm satisfied with my progress. I realized right away that I couldn't follow my outline to the letter. Instead of panicking, I simply revised after every chapter. This way, I could reassure myself that I was making progress while reminding myself of my endgame. I also gave up on keeping the chapters as chapters, hence my continued use of quotation marks for the word in this post.

I haven't tried to outline my characterization at all. I hate to sound like an artiste (I don't like the idea that characters have a mind of their own; they don't exist outside my imagination and I am my imagination). I have learned that characterization is probably best when it flows organically. Plots tend to be mechanic, but characters are hopefully always unique.

Personal lesson learned: outline what needs to be outlined, and improvise what needs to be improvised.