It depends... a lot of the time I just sit down and start writing, especially if it's for an H_E contest or something. If it's a relatively short fic, I'll toss the idea around in my head for maybe a day then start on it and just roll with the rest ASAP so I don't lose enthusiasm.
The one multi-chaptered original story I wrote, I did an outline. I had pages and pages of handwritten notes on the characters, knew their birthdays and everything.
Sometimes I like writing at least part of the story by hand, then typing it up later. It's slow going but when I type it up I also edit it, take out things that don't work, add in more descriptives, etc.
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The one multi-chaptered original story I wrote, I did an outline. I had pages and pages of handwritten notes on the characters, knew their birthdays and everything.
Sometimes I like writing at least part of the story by hand, then typing it up later. It's slow going but when I type it up I also edit it, take out things that don't work, add in more descriptives, etc.