I am a very messy plotter so I can almost guarantee that this will be of no help to anyone trying to develop a planning process, but I thought it could be fun to share my "method". I find outlining my novels to be quite beneficial. Having a goal helps me stick to y story. I usually start writing before I've developed the entire outline, but I usually work on both simultaneously so I never run out of story to write. My plotting style does vary from story to story, but here's a rough outline of how I plot.
1. Write a summary. This first thing I do is write a brief summary about the story. It's usually pretty short and just my initial story idea. Sometimes I list what type of story it is (teen romance, silly family comedy, rural 1950's summer story — you get the idea).
2. List what I know I want in the story. So basically any scenes or plot points I initially think of I list so that I can connect them all later (they don't always make there way into the story but often they do).
3. Basically just list stuff. If I don't know how I want the story to start, I make a list of possible ideas. If I don't know what to name the main character, I make a list of names. Basically I just write stuff down until I find an answer to whatever question I'm asking. Just writing stuff down and processing my ideas helps me to put the story together.
4. Plot by chapter. After I have a basic idea of where I want the story to go, I start writing an outline by chapter.
5. Continue writing down ideas. Even after I start outlining by chapter, I often times find myself stumped and I have to stop and go back to plotting. So basically I just scribble stuff down until I've made a workable outline.
I find plotting very helpful so I don't forget what I wanted to do with the story. My first drafts never come out very well and I usually have to go back and revise. So yeah. That's my rough and messy plotting process. I decided to procrastinate actually plotting by writing a chapter about plotting :)
