Getting Started

The hardest part of any project, whether it be for work, for classes, for self, or for others, is getting started...

It's kind of like going to the gym. You don't want to go...you don't want to have to get changed into gym clothes, get in the car/golf cart/bike/mode of transportation and go there. But once you get there, you find it's not the most terrible thing in the world. If you're like me, you actually enjoy it.

Starting a new story can be like that. It's so hard to commit and sit down and put the first words to paper, even if you know there's no pressure because, odds are, you're going to change them at some point anyway. You're so roiling with ideas and images and raw color that trying to direct it into coherent sentences, one at a time, sounds maddening. That's usually where I get caught up-- I see so many different scenes of the story at one time that I can't decide where to start. At the very beginning? Somewhere in the middle and go back? Which do I set down first? And then my brain explodes and I don't write anything at all. So here are some tips on how to overcome the self-imposed "writer's block" and get to work!

First of all, do you have an idea for a story? Well, it doesn't have to be anything brilliant...it can be nothing more than a kernel, a feeling to go off of. You can build off of anything. If you need inspiration, start reading. Turn on some music. Go for a walk. Or just start writing something that is inspired by your favorite genre. Myself, for example: in the pursuit of starting a new book, I decided to stick with my favorite story style not only to read but also to write-- the retold fairy tale. I then picked my favorite fairy tale of all time-- Beauty and Beast.

Oh, and random fact: did you know that the beauty/beast fairy tale is initially inspired by East of the Sun, West of the Moon? Which was in its own turn inspired by the even more ancient story of Cupid and Psyche? You should look these up and read them. If fairy tales are your genre of choice, study them. Study your genre, your industry. It counts as research and it counts as work. If you know the roots of the themes you are telling, you will be better able to incorporate new trends or even really old trends that appeal to your geekier audience. If I, for example, use something along the lines of dripping candle wax on a person in my own story, those who know East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Cupid and Psyche will think "Oh snap!" The details are everything. And if you study the stories, know every retelling and reworking of a single thread, you will also be able to see where there is a tale missing. Which is exactly what I did.

Now I won't give away my ideas for my book. You'll just have to wait and read it. But I did notice a version of the beauty/beast story that is missing, that I've never come across before, in all the versions I have read. I've read a few, just so you know (that means a lot). So I jumped on it with great enthusiasm. This is going to be good.

Next step-- brainstorming. This usually helps if you do it on your own first and then with a group of two friends. Get paper and pen (pen, not pencil-- you don't have time to erase so don't even give yourself the temptation. If you need to get rid of something on the page, scratch it out and move on) and start writing down ideas, any idea, every idea, that appeal to you. Don't worry about chronology, or tense, or picking one or the other. Get down every interesting bubble of an event, character line, character thought, scene description, names, reasons, tie-ins, motive, conclusion, introduction, blurb that you can think of. You can sort them out later. This is raw-data collection time. Having the friends help will open you to knew ideas and thoughts. I'm not saying have them help you write the story. But I can say from personal experience, having other people give you swift, unrelenting things to consider for your story will get your own brain moving and will inspire your own ideas. And they will actually have something interesting to contribute that you can use as-is or rework as you see fit. Don't feel like you have to use their ideas. Turn things down, even if it's just for an arbitrary reason, and keep thinking. You'll be amazed how quickly those pages fill up.

Then read your notes. Make final tweaks to what you'll keep and what you won't. Then write.

You don't need to worry about where to start. Usually it's easiest to start at the beginning. Chapter One. But if you're having trouble doing that, and you can't decide which scene to start with, pick the scene in your mind that stands out the most or keeps coming to you most frequently. If it's your close companion, your most persistent visitor, chances are it's somehow the most appealing or tricky to you. Go with that.

And write...don't worry about it being perfect the first draft. Don't spend time at this point agonizing over which word to use or which sentence is finely honed. That's the editing process. First things first, get the story told. Work until it's done. Feel like a mad scientist or like you belong in a straight-jacket as you pace around your office, talking to yourself, staring at the wall, or laughing for no reason. When the muse does get you, you'll find your own set of manic expression-isms for it. But always come back and start typing/scribbling again. Don't give up, push through those moments when you feel like you need to stop or you just don't know. It's alright to write a book like a beaded necklace with gaps in between. You can fill in the gaps later and turn it into a cohesive rope during editing and smoothing.

But write...