The following post is a guest post from Megan of Help4Writers on Tumblr in honor of NaNoWriMo. Megan is a high school senior but has been writing for many years and loves to talk shop with other writers. Her blog has writing prompts, advice, reference and more so go on and check it out.

~Hillary

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Many people dread the term “outline” when it comes to any kind of writing because they simply don’t feel it’s necessary to plan out what you’re writing. They get their best ideas by writing the first thing that comes to mind. Then they either edit as they go – a detriment to anyone that is participating in National Novel Writing Month – or they edit once they’ve finished writing (if they’ve gotten that far).

Outlines are an essential part of writing, whether you’re just starting out or have been writing novels for years. No matter what you’re writing down about your story to remember for a later time, this is an outline, something you wish to include when you get to a certain part.

For anyone participating in National Novel Writing Month, an outline will help you when plotting things out, especially if you’re plotting ahead of time instead of a day or two before NaNo starts.

There are four things you can do to enhance your outline so that, once you’ve completed it, it becomes your guide for the month.

• Details, Details, Details! – When you’re plotting, write down every minute detail you think you may need for your storyline. You may come up with a witty comeback for your character to say during an argument, and that’s the time to write it down. There’s no guarantee that you’ll remember it a few weeks down the road when you’re writing this argument in chapter eight. Even if you decide when writing that a certain plot detail isn’t necessarily needed, it’s good to have it down.
• It’s Not the Ten Commandments. Your outline isn’t written in stone. Things can easily change, and writers need to accept that sometimes an idea seems to work well in the planning stages but not when you’re trying to write it out. Some portions of your outline may be extraneous, and it’s perfectly fine to get rid of something that isn’t working.
• Stick To Your System. If you’re more comfortable filling out scene sheets that keep track of characters, settings and plot, use those; if you use a document on your computer to construct the classic numbered outline, utilize your computer skills to do just that. The important thing is to use a system of outlining that you’re most comfortable with. If you have a comfortable outlining system, that’s one less thing to worry about when starting on the sometimes-hectic journey of NaNoWriMo.
• Outline at Least a Rough Ending. I know this seems like an odd tip – even somewhat obvious – but you’d be surprised at how many people leave out a plan for their ending and then get stuck on what to do when the time comes to put a finish to what you’ve been working on. Having at least a rough ending before diving into your novel is important; as you write, you may go back to your outline and add more details to it, or you may change it completely; if you don’t think about the ending until you’re actually there, you’ll at least have an idea of how you wanted things to finish a month prior when you originally constructed the outline.

By keeping these four tips in mind when you’re outlining your November novel, you will easily get the premise of your novel down so you can go back and easily write later.