Come up with a brief summary of what your novel will be about. Make sure it includes the state of your character at the beginning, a major event that happens, and the state of your character at the end. A brief summary for Cindarella would be "A young woman is treated like a slave by her evil stepmother and stepsisters, but after a fairy godmother transforms Cindarella's rags into a beautiful ball gown, Cindarella attends the ball. The prince is mesmerized by Cindarella that night, and searches for her after the ball until he finds her and marries her."
Write down the plot points that are included in the summary on a piece of paper. Leave plenty of room between each plot point. For Cindarella, the only plot points included in the summary are "A godmother transforms Cinderella's clothing into a ball gown," "Cindarella goes to the ball," "Cindarella meets the prince," "The prince searches for Cindarella after the ball," and "The prince marries Cindarella."
Fill in the blanks to make a more specific plot outline. Ask yourself what leads up to each event, what causes a certain event to happen, and what the result of that event would be.
Create hurdles for the main character. A good novel will have plenty of conflict, whether it's from other characters or events that happen to the main character.
Don't include too many details. Save the intricate details for your first draft of the novel. Include only the basic facts when making a plot outline.