>>22820479To be fair, both approaches are valid and mostly boil down to the kind of story you want to write, and your personal preference as a writer. In fact, I would say I kind of do both. In my writing, I usually try to plan out how my major characters (ones who consistently drive the plot forward) tick - what they like and what they want to achieve, and try my best to stick to those. For the story (and individual chapters), I plan out the major checkpoints that it needs to hit, before arranging the rest of the world (setpieces, objects, minor characters whose hopes and dreams don't matter) in a way where the characters required will be guided through the checkpoints.
If everything goes to plan, the characters' own aspirations will basically fill the blanks in between. Of course, sometimes they also derail the story, in which case I'll have to adapt to it and try my best to pull the story back on track. It can also lead to occasional pacing issues when the path ended up more winding than I expected, but it's good enough for fanwork, I guess.