How to Start Writing
New ideas and a blank page
A few days ago, someone on BlueSky posited the question: How do you Start Writing?
Specifically, how do you get past the point where you have an idea and actually begin the process of turning it into a narrative-shaped thing?
Many, many writers chimed in to offer their tips and tricks! Some suggestions related to the actual physical process: how to set up your writing space, starting in a notebook versus opening up a blank screen, getting your snacks and drinks prepped, putting on appropriate music. Others suggested craft-related starting points: whether to outline first, how to investigate your characters, start at the scenes you’re most excited for no matter where they’ll fall in the book. Some people suggested specific apps, websites, and programs to help a writer start organizing thoughts; some suggested starting off with just a keyboard smash, typing nonsense to relieve the pressure, or playing a word association game with yourself.
As with so many things in writing, the truth is that there is no One Right Way to Start Writing. The important thing is to figure out what works for you.
But for me, if the thing that’s proving an impediment is the fear of the blank page, then I think the biggest thing is to take those capital letters off of it in your mind.
You don't have to Start Writing. You don’t have to think of this as a “first draft” or even a “zero draft.” You don’t have to put that kind of pressure on it at first.
You can just tell yourself a story. You've got the idea? Awesome. Talk to yourself on paper. It doesn't have to be good. It doesn't even have to be narrative. It can be bullet points. (It often is, for me, at first). It can be pages of describing a character's appearance. It can be stream-of-consciousness vibing. It can be untethered dialogue.
Eventually, you'll start to see the bits that *want* to turn into narrative, and you go from there. Stray bits of conversation and description start coalescing into scenes. Scenes start becoming something that resembles a plot. And a plot starts looking like a story-shaped thing, and eventually that starts looking like a draft.
And this is actually the point I’m at in a new project! It’s brand-brand new, an idea that came to me just a few weeks ago, and I’m giving myself permission to explore the freedom of that. So many of the other things I’ve tried to work on in past months were things that have been in my brain for years, so they came with a lot of weight attached. This project is one I’m still very much feeling out, and it’s reshaping itself and changing as I go through this early process. I’d… sort of forgotten how much fun that can be!
I’m also being very soft and delicate with it, trying not to put too much pressure on it yet to be a certain shape or to achieve certain goals. I was talking about it with friend and podcast co-host Marshall the other day, and the way he phrased it was “sitting quietly near the story so it’ll learn to trust you” — and that’s exactly how I feel! I’m not talking about any of its details yet; I’m not sharing snippets; I’m not using it to respond to prompts on IG. Right now, this idea and I are just in our own private world.
At this point, I’m not Writing A Book. I’m just telling myself a story.