mapping your novel

i wrote a synopsis for my novel and in the process of doing so, i discovered that, lo behold, i have a meager excuse for a plot (my MC that i talked so much about in my query isn't even in half the story!). so i opened a new document, and mapped out each chapter, characters, and their significance toward the main story to make the story more meaty and less fatty.

my question is, does anyone here have a certain format they follow when they map out their story... or who even does this? i for one hate writing outlines before the story, but have discovered it to be a very objective tool for after the first draft is written (in my case, i resorted to it after the fourth draft).

thanks everyone. i guess it is just a matter of taste how one wants to map out their story. i spent all day yesterday making an outline (i have the convenience of doing that since i have no job), then finding the chapters that are key to the main plot. just by doing that, i eliminated 4,000 words from my 84,000-word MS (they were irrelevent backstory or unnecessary repetitions) and found i need to create 4 new chapters to make the story flow smoother. ive noticed that im putting in more dialogue and character development in now. im also reorganizing a bunch of existing chapters, and hell, i think she's starting to look pretty sleek and aerodynamic, like a porsche.

hopefully the fat cats in ny will think the same

so, if there is anything i have learned as of yet, and y'all can agree or disagree, it's that when writing a first draft, write tons of backstory! write backstory til your heart's content. because without all that backstory, you really can't get familiar with the world yourself. BUT... when you get around to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th draft, get rid of all that backstory and let the characters speak, act, dance all that information out! backstory is important to the author, but is useless for the reader.

i know that as a writer, you want the reader to see everything you see and know everything you know about the characters, and their world but backstory is not the way to present that. just like people you meet in your real life, you do not know everything about them or their world right away. But the author DOES NEED TO KNOW and the more the author knows about that stuff, the more coherent and plausible his/her world will seem to the reader.

so that concludes my sermon on the mount. go children and spread the gospel!