Outline verses Freewrite?

I want to begin writing a novel, and I'm debating drawing out an outline first. I've done outlines before, and they generally kill the excitment for me, but I've written unplanned "books" before and most of the time they've turned out pretty messy. Should I just suck it up and make an outline?

The best way to write is whatever gets the story written.

If outlining kills the excitement for you, then you might want to try something closer to having a general idea of A to B and writing to fill in the gaps, so there's some structure but not enough you feel you're just fleshing out an outline.

You can also just edit the freewritten novels a few more times to get the plot to work for you. First drafts are supposed to be messy, even with an outline.

I guess I just have to be more patient with my work. But I like your idea of a really really light outline! I'll try it out tonight

What I do for really light outlines is establish critical plot points. Usually it's beginning, turning point, and end. "Turning point" is defined as where there is a major change in what the plot direction is. At the first draft of the plot, that's usually just three points I work towards filling the gaps between.

Those points are also very likely to change as the plot progresses. As I physically write, I realize the turning point is actually something else. Which is when the plot gets mildly "blown up" as I remove plot elements that no longer fit and basically re-outline the rest. Keeps it interesting.

I had this problem for quite a while. I kind of do a little of both - for my recent novel, I outline and then I kind of veered away from that outline when I felt like I had to to keep the excitement. It's like how they teach you how to draw a face. You draw the circle first and then work on it; work out a vague outline of your novel and then expand on it where you see fit and the next thing you know, you have Angelina Jolie's face staring back at you from that circle you drew.