I read fiction avidly - I usually have a nineteenth century novel (the golden age of fiction) on the go, but love Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Richard Ford, Barbara Kingsolver among many others.
I plot the first 5 or 6 chapters quite minutely, and also the end. So I know where I am going but not how I'm going to get there, which gives characters the chance to develop organically, as happens in real life as you get to know a person.