Your ending will probably be better than your start, because you'll be a better, more experienced writer at the end of the story than you were at the beginning. Writing is a skill, and skills improve the more you practice them.
Just write. If you can't figure out where the start is, begin the story as close to the start as you feel comfortable with, and leave yourself a note at the top of page 1 to \[put story intro here\] for later. Just begin, even if you can already tell the intro is spotty or weak. There's nothing that can happen in the first draft that can't be edited for the second one.
One technique is to write a deliberately temporary beginning that you'll redo when you have a better idea. Mind you, the *events* should be something you believe in reasonably well, just not their presentation. Revert to normal by the second scene or so.
Starting with "Once upon a time" is traditional for such things.
I wrote a couple of my favorite scenes before I even officially started writing my book. That got my feet wet and my mindset into writing without any pressure (I wrote them by hand in a notebook during break). But yeah, you finally just have to sit down and type out “Chapter One,” and know that your first draft doesn’t need to be perfect or even good. Some people write a “zero draft” where they essentially just word vomit their whole book before beginning their official first draft.
I normally have a minimum of three drafts for one chapter. A chapter outline, dialogue, then character directions. It helps pump out chapters fast as well as generate ideas for details as you write.
Listen pal Im not here to pad your feelings and i certainly dont give a fuck about them. What i want for you is to write your fucking story. I have crippling adhd, unmedicated intentionally, and have found a way.
Youve already fucked up because if you allow your story to develop naturally as you write than likely 90% of your planning will get tossed anyways.
Youve wasted 3 months daydreaming.
Now youre on reddit asking how to start writing... instead of writing. You want the truth? Your story, your idea, your characters, the publishing industry, they dont care about your excuses. If you dont write your story, it will remain unwritten, the reasons are irrelevant.
Put down reddit, right now, and write your first chapter. Right now. Then go online and buy 5 books, each in a different catagory that interests you. Buy them.
Read 5 pages a day from each.
Then write.
No excuses, no internet. Just reading, and writing.
Your choice- go be a writer. Or dont.
Totally second the 'If you dont write your story, it will remain unwritten, the reasons are irrelevant.'
However, I disagree with the notion that the time is lost. I agree that tight plotting often doesn't benefit the story (process-led making is the way to go (for interesting stuff)), but it's clear it was necessary for this aspiring author.
Just because these plans may not be used doesn't mean it was redundant (but potentially superfluous). Starting in comfort is a good idea as long as it provides you the stepping stool (be it in practicality or confidence) to start making the real work.
I have late-diagnosed ADHD and used to have a tendency to over-plan, too. This time spent is rarely a full waste.
Gotta turn that censor off and just go for it. Your first draft is you telling the story to yourself. Your second draft will be editing it into a better state for other people (if you want that)
Some (if not all!) of what you write first will probably not be great. That doesn't mean you're a bad writer, it just means it's a first attempt. Get comfortable writing down the shit, get it out of your system, don't judge yourself for it and then revisit it when you figure out what you don't like and how to change it for the better.
Good advice I was given about dialogue, for example. I was often frustrated that much of my first draft dialogue was coming out in tired clichés. But sometimes you need to take the path of least resistance just to get the stuff on the page. So write down the cliché if it gets you where you want to go next. Then go back and finesse it into something better when you've made some headway. Writing SOMETHING, even if it's tired or corny, is always better than not writing anything at all. You can't edit and improve what you haven't written yet.
Our subconscious minds are always working on problems in the background. By the time you finish the first draft of a scene, you'll probably already know how to make it much better when you go back to edit and revise it.
This might sound really obvious, but I think you should just start. Jump in and go. Write about the world if nothing else and forget about the characters or the beginning of your story for the time being if it helps you get things rolling. Personally I always find the beginning of a story to be the hardest part as I have a whole wealth of ideas, almost none of which revolve around the start of my story.
Sometimes I’ll just know how to start my story, but thats maybe one time out of ten. The vast majority of the time, I’m writing scenes, events or interactions taking place way later in the story. In my current Star Wars story, the intro sentences and the general start of my story didn’t fall into place until after about a week and a half of writing later interactions and events. This might sound weird or counter intuitive, but doing this can really help you get started with the beginning of your story. It certainly has for me.
And I wouldn’t worry to much about your end result being bad. I can tell you that most of my early writing makes me cringe at times when I reread it and I’d imagine most writers would have a similar experience. I think it’s simply a part of the process of growing as a writer. Some things you do work out, others just don’t but that’s okay I think.
Start in the middle. Start with whatever idea sparked the whole thing. Flesh it out from there. Write some dialogue. You don't *have* to start at the beginning and finish at the end. The book does, but you don't.
Depends on if you're a gardener or an architect. For myself, I can only write if I have the structure in my head - which does not necessarily correlate with an architectural plan. I need the emotional tension arc to be able to write. But you may be different from me ..
You don't have to start at the start.
You can start with a scene that excites you or a character interaction that you find compelling. Hell, you can even start by writing a slice-of-life scene that you preemptively know has no business being in the final cut. I often intertwine my planning with strange tiny snippets of dialogue, or a midway fleshed-out piece. This is all writing.
The important thing is to start. The more you write the more capable you will become. Writing can be an additive or a reductive process (think sculpting out of clay, as opposed to carving from marble), or both at different stages. The main thing is to write, the more you do it the better you will get.
Welcome to a writer's world. Every writer suffers with self-doubt, worries that his story isn't "good "enough", that his mom will make him get a real job even though I've told her a million times I'm applying online and that's why I never have to leave my lair, I mean her basement. What was the question?
Oh, a start. Don't start with the perfect line, start with the first words.... you can go back and rewrite the prefect words later.
For inspiration I took the words of that great novelist... "It was a dark and stormy night...." and began my story.... "It was dark. So dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face."
I'm gonna go back later and rewrite the perfect one when I think of it. Begin with the first couple of words.....
Her hair was a golden brown...
He didn't seem like much of a dog when I first laid eyes on him.
The only sound she heard were the footsteps behind her...
Just write the story. Make it perfect later.
If writing the beginning and coming up with the perfect opening feels to intimidating, write the scene that you have the clearest sense/picture of, even if it’s in the middle of the story. You’ll have to revise it later, so it doesn’t need to be perfect. If you’re looking for craft books, Matt Bell’s “Refuse to Be Done” really helped me gather the courage to jump in!
Just dive in. You can always re-write anything you want. But you can't do that until there's something on the page.
Your ending will probably be better than your start, because you'll be a better, more experienced writer at the end of the story than you were at the beginning. Writing is a skill, and skills improve the more you practice them. Just write. If you can't figure out where the start is, begin the story as close to the start as you feel comfortable with, and leave yourself a note at the top of page 1 to \[put story intro here\] for later. Just begin, even if you can already tell the intro is spotty or weak. There's nothing that can happen in the first draft that can't be edited for the second one.
One technique is to write a deliberately temporary beginning that you'll redo when you have a better idea. Mind you, the *events* should be something you believe in reasonably well, just not their presentation. Revert to normal by the second scene or so. Starting with "Once upon a time" is traditional for such things.
I wrote a couple of my favorite scenes before I even officially started writing my book. That got my feet wet and my mindset into writing without any pressure (I wrote them by hand in a notebook during break). But yeah, you finally just have to sit down and type out “Chapter One,” and know that your first draft doesn’t need to be perfect or even good. Some people write a “zero draft” where they essentially just word vomit their whole book before beginning their official first draft.
i didn’t even think about writing random scenes. that’s definitely going to be way for my brain lol
I normally have a minimum of three drafts for one chapter. A chapter outline, dialogue, then character directions. It helps pump out chapters fast as well as generate ideas for details as you write.
Stop procrastinating
not actually how adhd works
Listen pal Im not here to pad your feelings and i certainly dont give a fuck about them. What i want for you is to write your fucking story. I have crippling adhd, unmedicated intentionally, and have found a way. Youve already fucked up because if you allow your story to develop naturally as you write than likely 90% of your planning will get tossed anyways. Youve wasted 3 months daydreaming. Now youre on reddit asking how to start writing... instead of writing. You want the truth? Your story, your idea, your characters, the publishing industry, they dont care about your excuses. If you dont write your story, it will remain unwritten, the reasons are irrelevant. Put down reddit, right now, and write your first chapter. Right now. Then go online and buy 5 books, each in a different catagory that interests you. Buy them. Read 5 pages a day from each. Then write. No excuses, no internet. Just reading, and writing. Your choice- go be a writer. Or dont.
A bit coarse. Harsh, even. But very useful. Do it.
Totally second the 'If you dont write your story, it will remain unwritten, the reasons are irrelevant.' However, I disagree with the notion that the time is lost. I agree that tight plotting often doesn't benefit the story (process-led making is the way to go (for interesting stuff)), but it's clear it was necessary for this aspiring author. Just because these plans may not be used doesn't mean it was redundant (but potentially superfluous). Starting in comfort is a good idea as long as it provides you the stepping stool (be it in practicality or confidence) to start making the real work. I have late-diagnosed ADHD and used to have a tendency to over-plan, too. This time spent is rarely a full waste.
Yes!!! Saving this to my daily affirmations. I need to hear this tough love everyday. Thank you!
Gotta turn that censor off and just go for it. Your first draft is you telling the story to yourself. Your second draft will be editing it into a better state for other people (if you want that)
Some (if not all!) of what you write first will probably not be great. That doesn't mean you're a bad writer, it just means it's a first attempt. Get comfortable writing down the shit, get it out of your system, don't judge yourself for it and then revisit it when you figure out what you don't like and how to change it for the better. Good advice I was given about dialogue, for example. I was often frustrated that much of my first draft dialogue was coming out in tired clichés. But sometimes you need to take the path of least resistance just to get the stuff on the page. So write down the cliché if it gets you where you want to go next. Then go back and finesse it into something better when you've made some headway. Writing SOMETHING, even if it's tired or corny, is always better than not writing anything at all. You can't edit and improve what you haven't written yet. Our subconscious minds are always working on problems in the background. By the time you finish the first draft of a scene, you'll probably already know how to make it much better when you go back to edit and revise it.
It will be. And then you either rework it or move on to the next. P.s. I'm just guessing, because I am too afraid to start mine, too
haha thank you and good luck
This might sound really obvious, but I think you should just start. Jump in and go. Write about the world if nothing else and forget about the characters or the beginning of your story for the time being if it helps you get things rolling. Personally I always find the beginning of a story to be the hardest part as I have a whole wealth of ideas, almost none of which revolve around the start of my story. Sometimes I’ll just know how to start my story, but thats maybe one time out of ten. The vast majority of the time, I’m writing scenes, events or interactions taking place way later in the story. In my current Star Wars story, the intro sentences and the general start of my story didn’t fall into place until after about a week and a half of writing later interactions and events. This might sound weird or counter intuitive, but doing this can really help you get started with the beginning of your story. It certainly has for me. And I wouldn’t worry to much about your end result being bad. I can tell you that most of my early writing makes me cringe at times when I reread it and I’d imagine most writers would have a similar experience. I think it’s simply a part of the process of growing as a writer. Some things you do work out, others just don’t but that’s okay I think.
Start in the middle. Start with whatever idea sparked the whole thing. Flesh it out from there. Write some dialogue. You don't *have* to start at the beginning and finish at the end. The book does, but you don't.
thank you !!
Depends on if you're a gardener or an architect. For myself, I can only write if I have the structure in my head - which does not necessarily correlate with an architectural plan. I need the emotional tension arc to be able to write. But you may be different from me ..
You don't have to start at the start. You can start with a scene that excites you or a character interaction that you find compelling. Hell, you can even start by writing a slice-of-life scene that you preemptively know has no business being in the final cut. I often intertwine my planning with strange tiny snippets of dialogue, or a midway fleshed-out piece. This is all writing. The important thing is to start. The more you write the more capable you will become. Writing can be an additive or a reductive process (think sculpting out of clay, as opposed to carving from marble), or both at different stages. The main thing is to write, the more you do it the better you will get.
Welcome to a writer's world. Every writer suffers with self-doubt, worries that his story isn't "good "enough", that his mom will make him get a real job even though I've told her a million times I'm applying online and that's why I never have to leave my lair, I mean her basement. What was the question? Oh, a start. Don't start with the perfect line, start with the first words.... you can go back and rewrite the prefect words later. For inspiration I took the words of that great novelist... "It was a dark and stormy night...." and began my story.... "It was dark. So dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face." I'm gonna go back later and rewrite the perfect one when I think of it. Begin with the first couple of words..... Her hair was a golden brown... He didn't seem like much of a dog when I first laid eyes on him. The only sound she heard were the footsteps behind her... Just write the story. Make it perfect later.
If writing the beginning and coming up with the perfect opening feels to intimidating, write the scene that you have the clearest sense/picture of, even if it’s in the middle of the story. You’ll have to revise it later, so it doesn’t need to be perfect. If you’re looking for craft books, Matt Bell’s “Refuse to Be Done” really helped me gather the courage to jump in!