Writing Techniques

When reading other people's techniques to how they write their stories and novels I've decided I must be the odd man(woman) out. I don't really plan my stories. I let the characters lead me where they want to go. Once they've finished telling me their story I go back through and fix the things that either have too much or not enough information. I make sure they left no dangling ends in the story line and brush it all up for them. I don't have an outline or a synopsis.

I've tried writing with an outline before. It felt overly forced and fake to me.

Don't tell my teachers this, but even in school when we had to write a story outline and turn it in before we started writing our stories I would write the entire story then write the outline after. While everyone else was writing their first drafts I was going through my story to make sure there weren't any glaring errors in the storyline. I tried the outline, it didn't work for me.

Now don't get me wrong, I've read authors who swear by the outline and they have phenomenal stories. It just isn't for me.

I would love to hear your experience with various writing techniques!