Mindset of bestselling authors

I often try to imagine how bestselling/famous authors mindset when they set out to write their famous books. Imagine Jane Austen, who wrote the famous novels which practically set the trend and benchmark for romantic novels, setting out to write her famous novel, say Persuasion. Do they have the skeleton of their entire plot and characters, sketched out in advance, how do they plan their chapters, insert the dialogue's and plan the situations. Because as is very evident in a great authors books everything comes together so beautifully in space and time as to make the book everlasting in the minds of most readers. I rather think it is a kind of instinctive talent, not only for words and turn of phrase, but to actually mesh the plot, to give the story a rythym and tempo, to actually be able to visualise the characters in the mind's eye which truly makes some of the books so great.