Where To Start
As writers, we’re often plagued by the blank page. The blank page can be a friend or a foe, inviting you to come and set down your dreams and sketches or taunting you with the vast emptiness of it all. It’s both and neither at various times in your project life. It feels easy when you have a plan and the words are coming, but as I can attest, even when you have an outline for writing and many details, sometimes the words can dry up.
Where do you start or restart when that happens? You start with your idea, and write what you have. Sometimes the blank page at the beginning of the project is because we’ve convinced ourselves we have to go in chronological order. Knowing the order of scenes and events in your story is important, but it doesn’t have to be written in that order. You can write it end to beginning if that works best for you. The main thing to do here is not let the blank beginning become ominous and remember that the beginning of every new project is just that, a new beginning.
If you’re an absolute beginner and worried about selling a story, my advice to you is just write. Get in the habit of writing. Learn when to stop your story, how to find your voice, and what kinds of work you like to write. Just write, and all of that will come to you. Don’t be intimidated by the blank page, but rather think of your ideas as doodling with words. A doodle doesn’t have to make a pretty picture, or even be your best work. It’s the point at which you start as an artist, just picking up the pen and putting it to paper to create something fun and let your mind work while you increase your skill level. That’s how many of your stories will be, so don’t put the pressure on yourself at the very beginning to sit down and write The Novel.
If I’m trying to restart, that can just as daunting as looking at the blank page. Well, the first thing I do is remember what I’m trying to achieve in the scene that’s stumping me. Can I change something that makes it easier to write? Sometimes just changing the weather will help, because characters can respond to their environment and it can limit the time they spend either inside or out. Try making small changes to see if the words come easier.
Reading is key
Remember to read. Being a reader is an important part of being a writer, and it can get overlooked from time to time. We writers can get so caught up in the craft and action of writing that we don’t necessarily remember that we were readers first, and that’s what fuels our love of writing. Step back, read something else, and then try again to write.
If all else fails when I am trying to restart, I often go back to the beginning and edit. Turns out, reading your own story and immersing yourself in the flow of it can be a big help when the next passage is unclear. It really helps me to continue to work and feel like I’m doing productive and meaningful work on my stories to go back and edit and rework scenes before the one that has me stuck. Maybe it just puts me in the right mindset or helps me recall details and paths I wanted insert, but it works more often than not.
What do you do to help you get started writing or restarted on a tough scene?