I have come across a few authors who have outlined their stories and their stories have turned out beautifully. Authors, including myself, do not take the time to outline our stories and essentially "go with the flow," or in other words, type out whatever comes to mind. As of right now, I am typing whatever comes to my mind :)

If you're the type of person to come up with things as you go along, then don't waste your time on an outline when your ideas can spout out at any given moment. Let your mind take you where you want to go and if you don't like it, then you can always try and try again. I personally believe that the greatest creativity and imagination stems when you come up with a place to start, and then let the concepts in your mind lead you to a good story.

However, if you're particular about every detail and need to reference off something, outline your ideas! Although I make it seem like outlining is a bad thing (and it's not), it's actually very useful when your mind cannot guide you. I've used it a couple of times and about 3 out of how many ever times I've tried this method, it's helped me map out my words and thoughts that I couldn't simply type out due to writer's block.

If you're not sure what outlining is, then here's an example (this is my own personal way of outlining things by the way):

Say I want to talk about a character and a group spending the holidays together. Where are they spending them? What's the occasion? What's surrounding  them? What's the particular atmosphere? Who's all there?

Occasion: Christmas
Place: Youngjae's condo
Surroundings: A 7 foot Christmas tree that is heavily decorated, several stockings hanging above the fire place, a balcony with a night view of the Seoul skyline, heavily decorated interior with a color scheme of red, gold, silver, and white
Atmosphere: joyous, sociable
Attendees: B.A.P, you

Passage put together:
I have always spent