Determine what your story is going to be. The story summary will be one or two sentences that sums up the essence of the tale you want to tell. "A down and out boxer gets a chance at the heavyweight title and rises to fame and glory." That is essentially the story told in "Rocky," but the events that lead to his shot at the heavyweight title, his rise to fame, and his eventual downfall and rebirth are all the elements of plot. Know your story first.
Decide how you want to outline your novel. You can do it with index cards, on notebook paper or with story plotting software such as Storybase (see resources). No outlining or plotting method is etched in stone. Do what works for you.
Develop your plot outline using your method. Consider using parent headings for chapter titles, child headings to write one-line descriptions of the major turning points and another set of sub-headings to write a paragraph describing the main action of each turning point.
Add notes to your outline about your characters and their motivation. Include brief descriptions of each main character. Who your characters are will have a definite impact on the plot course your book takes. The same stumbling block placed before two characters will take your book on a different course because different people react to the same situation in different ways.
Refer to your plot outline as you go, considering the choices you have made regarding your characters and the decisions they make in your story. You want to ensure you have given the correct actions and dialogue to the appropriate characters in order to facilitate the story outcome you want to achieve.