Write Away

This is an awesome question, and very relevant to my own work in the fantasy genre.

I have written fantasy before where I've just gone with the flow of the story and made it up as I went, and there is something to be said about flexibility with the atmosphere as your characters and plot develop. But that being said, I really enjoy complex world-building. I am academically studying medieval history, though history is kind of a hobby for me, too. It's caused me to think about, for example, what kind of resources my people have, what crops they have (and don't have), what food they make, what their houses look like, etc.

For my main fantasy story - the one that will probably span several books if it ever gets done - I put together a binder of info. I've typed up loads of info for my own reference; for example, mythology (yeah, I kind of wrote one, lol!), political/religious hierarchies, relationships with other countries/fantasy races, clothes, the magic system, etc.

It's my favorite part of studying history (what was the day to day like life of premodern people?) and therefore I love the creativity that comes with world building. The problem is I don't think half the stuff I've "built" will ever show up in the actual story, haha.

I like your strategy of thinking about what a character would go through in a day, though I guess I don't really think of that unless I'm actually writing. I tend to approach it more textbook style.