General writing questions/ books related to writing

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Looking for books recommended general for writing fiction. I also have never conducted research for a novel before (pic related recommends writing the book, then consulting secondary sources to describe things in a more exact and correct manner. For example, using research to make your first draft more accurate and exact, and not to research before writing the plot). I've also never taken a creative writing class before, I always just read literature/ philosophy/ religious texts because it was entertaining and fun.
I'm kind of new to this whole thing, I just had an idea that I thought might actually be good and want to see.
Any tips, advice, websites, articles, videos, books, manuals, techniques, etc. are welcome.

I'll also try to contribute what I do know as people ask questions (if I can), as I've lately been researching writing pretty heavily and writing this thing.

My first kind of precise question has to do with research: I know my novel will require a vocabulary of a place and time I've never lived extensively but to work it requires that (I'm from Texas, and my book is about Texas, but I live in France right now). It's also about rural Texas and I'm from a big city. So I have to create a kind of false authenticity from the setting even though the characters are from real life. The opening and many plot elements and characters are, in fact, very solid in my mind (I'm going to let the plot resolve itself once I get past the point I'm currently writing), so should I just knock out the story and meat of the novel and consult secondary sources afterwards to make it more exact and refined?

Secondly, I have a question about the actual plot: I do try this technique I heard Nabokov used where you write down sustained scenes as they come to you, kind of like brain storming, and that eventually it pieces itself together. I kind of write several chapters in a kind of unintentional prose poetry to really flesh out how I want this particular scene to go, but there is no overall organization even though in my head it exists. But it seems "outlining" is more for genre fiction (I dont even mean this in a condescending way, it just seems Patterson, detective novel writers, thrillers, etc. are the only people who use them, and my story arch doesnt really have twists). Is an outline still suggested for organizational purposes, even if plot takes a major backseat to imagery & the like?

TL; DR: Curious about your thoughts on structuring a novel or novella & conducting research to make it on exact.