First I create the setting (Im primarily a woldbuilder). My current world doesn't even have a name but it will most likely be greek or roman with celtic influence. Magic and power systems are in place before I even write down the first line. Next are the base characters which are the setting's last piece. Now the first rough draft of the plot is created. The high tension parts first, the foreshadowing and build up follows. Nothing sucks more than a long arc without proper climax. Make sure your twists arent completely random, fill up with character development and smart exposition (aka avoid pointless dumps, goes twice for me since first person). Done with this? Now the last and definitely most annoying part: The first chapter. No prologues in my case but instead a few lines about the worlds history which are relevant to the coming arc.
Glad you're putting that much thought into story structure (3-arc 7-arc) and outlines. The authors who only have a beginning and BS their way to an end always end up in failure. Especially web-novelists going for marathon novels. Specifically to "outlines", came across some articles that might be helpful: https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/7-steps-to-creating-a-flexible-outline-for-any-story https://medium.com/writers-on-writing/how-to-write-a-novel-10-steps-46235774681b Thought there were some good takeaways: -- "For the first fifty pages, at least, work without an outline. See where the story is beginning to take you." -- "Your premise is the basic idea for your story. But it’s not enough to just have an idea. “Guy saves girl in an intergalactic setting” is a premise, but it’s also far too vague to offer much solid story guidance. This is why your outline needs to begin with a tightly crafted premise sentence that can answer the following questions..." I guess the point is that you don't always have to have an outline and then start writing. If you have a really strong premise and just start writing, it should help with developing your outline. EDIT: Please PLEASE consider Chekhov's Gun. It's super-annoying to read so many novels with pointless plot devices and useless filler. https://www.nownovel.com/blog/use-chekhovs-gun/