We're halfway through October, which means it's critical prep time for National Novel Writing Month—or NaNoWriMo for short.

The event, which takes place every November, challenges writers both aspiring and established to crank out a 50,000 word written work in just 30 days. Broken down, that's almost 1,700 words a day for a whole month. As someone who's participated three times before, I can guarantee it's as intense and occasionally grueling as it sounds.

However, the difference between success and crippling failure is planning. At least, that's what I've been told. I've never actually managed to complete a NaNoWriMo before. Looking back, though, I've also never had a real solid plan in place before jumping in. I had maybe a general concept or a very basic outline but, for the most part, I went in completely unprepared. Going into my fourth year participating, I hope I've finally learned my lesson for this year. Here are a few things that I've learned to have prepped and ready before November 1 rolls around.

Plot Outline

This is probably one of the biggest things I've seen suggested by past NaNoWriMo winners. Whether you're someone who just writes as they go or rely heavily on a pre-determined structure, having at least a general roadmap of where your story will go is a huge help. I'm one of those people that outlines any idea that pops into my head, which really helps me decide which ideas can actually bloom into a full-fledged story, and which are dead ends. Naturally, the extent of your outline going into NaNoWriMo will depend on your own writing preferences and style, but having something laid out will help to keep you on track and give you a general path of where your story is headed, leaving more brain power for actually cranking out those words.

I usually create a bulleted not-too-general-but-not-too-specific outline for my stories. That way at least the general plot flow is laid out so I know what's coming. Bulleted lists, like the one below for one of my abandoned projects, also make it super easy for me to go back and edit specific points without needing to rewrite everything.