When I have a basic idea for a plot I write a list down the page numbered 1-30. They'll be my chapters, first to last. Alongside each number I write a rough idea of what's going to happen in that chapter so I end up with a vague outline for a book.
I rarely write character bios in advance, they sort-of develop as the writing goes along. That's why my first novel ended up with two MCs - it was going to be the story of one man but the main secondary character wrote himself in so strongly I changed it. So it became about the pair of them, which worked better in the end.
I found one big advantage of numbered chapters when writing a novel is this - it makes word counts less intimidating. It's hard to imagine writing 100k words (even after two books it's pretty frightening), but look at it this way: an historical is general 80-120k words. That means each of your 30 chapters needs to be, roughly, 3000 words. At 300 per page that's ten pages. Doesn't look quite so bad now, does it?
If you break each chapter down further by writing three ideas to include, under your main chapter idea, then you're down to 3 pages per idea. We can all write 3 pages can't we? Well, I couldn't, so I broke those ideas down again, even into single prompt words if I couldn't think of any startling exposition, so now I only had to write one page (300 words)incorporating each idea and I knew I could do that. Some go even further, breaking the idea down again so they only have to make up 100 words each time.
One big advantage of this is that if you get stuck, which everyone does sometime, you can begin a new outline, or fill in an existing one with more detail. So you don't actually stop writing, and the thinking involved may help break you out of that 'I've got writers block' mindset. It helps for me, anyway :)
I wrote my first book without a plan written down, at least until I got nearly 3/4 way through
My second though is to a plan. But I do think it is important that any plan is just a guide, and you allow the story to go wherever it goes
I'm a planner, so far as story is concerned.
When I have a basic idea for a plot I write a list down the page numbered 1-30. They'll be my chapters, first to last. Alongside each number I write a rough idea of what's going to happen in that chapter so I end up with a vague outline for a book.
I rarely write character bios in advance, they sort-of develop as the writing goes along. That's why my first novel ended up with two MCs - it was going to be the story of one man but the main secondary character wrote himself in so strongly I changed it. So it became about the pair of them, which worked better in the end.
I found one big advantage of numbered chapters when writing a novel is this - it makes word counts less intimidating. It's hard to imagine writing 100k words (even after two books it's pretty frightening), but look at it this way: an historical is general 80-120k words. That means each of your 30 chapters needs to be, roughly, 3000 words. At 300 per page that's ten pages. Doesn't look quite so bad now, does it?
If you break each chapter down further by writing three ideas to include, under your main chapter idea, then you're down to 3 pages per idea. We can all write 3 pages can't we? Well, I couldn't, so I broke those ideas down again, even into single prompt words if I couldn't think of any startling exposition, so now I only had to write one page (300 words)incorporating each idea and I knew I could do that. Some go even further, breaking the idea down again so they only have to make up 100 words each time.
One big advantage of this is that if you get stuck, which everyone does sometime, you can begin a new outline, or fill in an existing one with more detail. So you don't actually stop writing, and the thinking involved may help break you out of that 'I've got writers block' mindset. It helps for me, anyway :)
I don't have a plan at all! :) I just make up everything as I go on.....