Sometimes, an idea for a new story hits you when you least expect it and when it does, you want nothing less than to jump right in and start writing. Nothing wrong with that, it's how I started most of my books, but unless you're a true pantser, you'll probably get stuck at some point. Maybe the plot doesn't make sense, or you've run out of inspiration. At those moments, it can help to have at least a little bit of an outline to help you along.
Solidify your plot
More than once, I came up with a single sentence or one character that I liked, and I started writing from there. And that's a fun way to start, but at some point, a story has to be a story, not just a fun character or a collection of cool sentences.
The first step is to think about what kind of story you want to tell. What is the theme? What is the goal? What are the stakes?
Once you know what you're going to write, the writing itself will automatically become easier. You have something to fall back on, after all.
You don't have to know the ending in detail, of course. As a matter of fact, I often find that planning the ending in too much detail restricts me in my writing. I end up trying to push my characters towards that ending that I came up with at the start and it makes for hurried and forced writing (in my case, at least). As time goes by, and you write the story, your characters and your world grow and change, so it isn't strange that sometimes the ending changes as well.
But having a few lines on what I want the plot to be does help keep me sane. Otherwise, I'm writing the present scene, while remembering everything that happened before, and trying to come up with what will happen in the next ten chapters. Knowing where I want to go clears some space in my head and it helps me to stay focused on the present scene.
Determine the setting
I'm sure you already have a vague idea in your head about what your world will be like when you start the story. But actually writing down a few details can help.
Is it a world of your own making, completely different from the one we live in? Or is it a world that exists next to ours, that is only accessible to characters with some kind of power or bloodline?
Determine a few key points about your world. What time your story is set in. What kind of people and creatures live on it. If it has magic or not. And if it does, try to define what it is and what it means to the people who have it.
I could go on endlessly with these suggestions and you don't have to know all of them perfectly. What's most important is that you have a clear idea for yourself, so that you don't get confused about whether a toilet exists in your world or not while you're in the middle of a scene.
Get to know your characters
The same thing can be said about your characters. You don't have to know them inside out the first time you write their name, but it would help to know some things about them.
What is their goal, for example. Their motivation? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you decide how your character will react to certain situations and what kind of choices they will make. You'll get to know the smaller things about them as you write more about them. That way, they'll grow naturally with the story. And you can always go back later to add extra details to round them out.
Work out the main events
Every writer works out their outline to a different degree. Some like to write down only a few words, like 'they try to overthrow the kingdom and everyone but the main character dies'. (Yes, super grim plot, but it happens). Others work out detailed descriptions of every chapter.
Personally, I'm somewhere in between. I tend to drive myself crazy by planning at least fifteen chapters ahead, and then changing the story after two chapters, so I have to go back and change my outline as well. That's the risk of planning too much. Sometimes I decide to forget about it and just see where my writing takes me, and then I get stuck after three chapters and feel blocked because I'm not sure where the story should go next.
Working out at least the big, main events that move your story forward will help to keep you going when you get stuck, without taking away your motivation to write.
That's all!
All in all, it's up to you how much you want to plan your story ahead. I'd suggest trying a few methods. Eventually, you'll find that amount of detail that's perfect for you to write your very best works.
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