Should I plan my novel before I start?
A novel can be planned. How much planning you do is debateable because when you start writing a novel you don't really have very much. You will find out more what of you are doing when you've written maybe 100 pages and you've gone into the characters to some extent. Then you can start looking at the planning. On the other hand, having some idea of where the book is going in terms of plot and story is probably useful, although some writers do actually start with very little.