Okay, Lisa, I'm gonna give you some tough love here.
The first thing you need to know about writing is that there is no formula to writing a novel. It's not a science - you can't take x and y and come out with a book. The only ingredient - the only really important ingredient - is the ability to write and the discipline to do it.
Everyone here writes differently. I like having set outlines. Para likes having detailed spreadsheets. BG likes having a general plot and such but leaving room for spur of the moment ideas and changes. Ally writes very fast. Ari usually writes stand-alones. And so on and so forth. Everyone has their thing, what makes them tick, what works for them. The only thing we all do the same is write.
But that's all we need, as long as we're writing. I have used so many different types of outline and plotting devices, you don't even know. I have used spreadsheets and cue cards and written twenty page synopses and not plotted at all and written chapter lists and timelines and done everything under the sun. I can't vouch for the others, but there is not a set procedure I follow to write a novel. I sometimes make playlists and sometimes don't, I sometimes plan a word count and sometimes don't, I sometimes write character profiles and sometimes don't. I research and worldbuild and dance around my room imagining being a famous author and you know what?
None of those things have landed me with a novel.
The only thing that has - the only thing that ever has and ever will, for everyone and anyone, no matter their genre or length or outlines or desires - is sitting down and writing.
There's a reason this website is called 'Absolute Write'.