I've come across the term "pantser" to describe a writer who doesn't bother to outline—I think it has to do with "flying by the seat of your pants." I wonder if this is what keeps me writing shorter works, as straightforward stories without many subplots can be easily worked out in a free-flowing run of words. Since I suddenly have no less than three science fiction ideas running amok in my head, and I've already started writing two in my haphazard fashion, I'm going to try plotting out the third.
Strangely, although sf often deals with expansive galaxies and entire new worlds, I think of it as more restrictive. There has to be a rational framework underlying it all, and if people are on ships, that's a fairly enclosed space. Magic, I think, can be more hand-wavey, but technology has stricter rules and implications; magic can have abitrary restrictions, but if faster-than-light travel is possible but not faster-than-light communication, that needs to be explained.