How to begin?

I would suggest imagining your scenes first. Choose a scene you think might be interesting, from anywhere in your novel, and then picture it in your mind. Let it play out as if you're watching a movie. See where it goes, what the characters say, what exciting things happen. Then, once you've "watched" it a few times, sit down and describe it by writing out what happened. If you get stuck, close your eyes and imagine the scene again.

I often begin my novels in this fashion, and it always works wonders in jump-starting my writing mojo.

1. Sit down.
2. Write.
3. ???
4. Profit

Seriously--writing seems like a big scary thing until you just start doing it. Write a first scene that sucks. Who cares? You know the good stuff comes later. So keep writing. Come back later, maybe, or don't. Whatever, man. Just write.

rainsmom said:

Don't start at the beginning. Start where you want to start. Start at the end. Start in the middle. Start with a random exciting scene.

Most importantly, give yourself permission to write crap. Say, "I can change this later." Because you very likely will.

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This is so true. My biggest issue is that I always have these pivotal scenes that I can't wait to write, but I feel compelled to write the rising action to them first (the beginnings), and then I get bogged down because I'm not inspired to write a beginning; I want to write a climax.

So I've figured out to just write what I want, whatever I have the fuel for (this implies different types of fuels, or inspirations rather).

And coming to the terms with Shitty First Drafts is really a pivotal acquaintance. Momentum isn't pretty. Not at first, at least, when you're gaining as much of it as possible.

Orianna2000 said:

I would suggest imagining your scenes first. Choose a scene you think might be interesting, from anywhere in your novel, and then picture it in your mind. Let it play out as if you're watching a movie. See where it goes, what the characters say, what exciting things happen. Then, once you've "watched" it a few times, sit down and describe it by writing out what happened. If you get stuck, close your eyes and imagine the scene again.

I often begin my novels in this fashion, and it always works wonders in jump-starting my writing mojo.

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Great advice. Spend some time daydreaming about your story and start writing the part that excites you.

The discipline of writing is an extremely tough one to learn. There is no shortage of active imaginations out there. What separates writers from people-who-think-about-writing-but-never-actually-do-it is the discipline of writing regularly (in most cases, just about every day).

I like what Steven Pressfield says about "going pro". Even though you're not getting paid to do this yet (presumably), going pro is a mindset. Is this a hobby for you? If so, you probably will not see it through. Only you can decide to go pro. And once you do, you have to do what all pros do: go to work, even if you don't want to.

If you can't start writing the beginning, start writing somewhere else. I'm learning to let myself take breaks and write my story in pieces. It's kind of exactly, but I have a piece here and a piece there, and I'm wondering exactly what it'll be like when they're all put together.

I just start writing, knowing full well I will probably scotch the first two or three chapters when I do the second draft. Early on I am still getting to know my characters, hearing their voices develop, coming to a fuller understanding of their back stories and what's really important to them.

There is no chance those first several pages are going to make the cut as is, and little chance they'll make the cut at all. Understanding this gives me the freedom to draft the story without concern for perfection.

Perfect is the enemy of good.

Devil Ledbetter said:

I just start writing, knowing full well I will probably scotch the first two or three chapters when I do the second draft. Early on I am still getting to know my characters, hearing their voices develop, coming to a fuller understanding of their back stories and what's really important to them.

There is no chance those first several pages are going to make the cut as is, and little chance they'll make the cut at all. Understanding this gives me the freedom to draft the story without concern for perfection.

Perfect is the enemy of good.

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Great, great point. Very well put.

I've heard that John Irving avoids this whole issue by writing all of his books in reverse - literally starting with the last chapter and writing back from there, though I don't think this would help, because your problem is not where to start, but how to start.

I think Devil's advice is spot on. I say, walk into the house with your muddy boots on and make a mess while you rearrange the furniture. Give yourself something satisfying to clean up later.

Good Luck!

Bluetrane said:

I've heard that John Irving avoids this whole issue by writing all of his books in reverse - literally starting with the last chapter and writing back from there,

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Maybe he does that nowadays, but I can attest first-hand that isn't the way he wrote his earlier work. I was a student of Irving's at the Iowa Writer's Workshop in the mid-1970s. He used to read in-progress rough draft portions of The World According to Garp to us.

I never though to ask, but in retrospect I do think he wrote out of linear order, concentrating on "scenes" and "episodes" as they came to mind.

caw

I love the beginning of the story.

It's where you enter the story, discover the characters, and start your journey to escape the real world. Where does the journey begin? You get to introduce your imaginary world to someone that has never seen it before. You have so much excitement over the story and the characters - and you get to wrap in an audience to share with their adventure. What comes first?

Introductions!

And who better to introduce your characters than themselves? Through actions and words, and their inner dialog, your character makes their first impression and hooks everyone in. Imagine walking into the MC's world, and he/she is taking you in as their personal confidant. Your MC has something at stake. It's so important that the story be told... because lives are at stake!Vulnerable hearts are working their way open! This could be the start of something earth-shattering.

The beginning is the part where everything is still a mystery, and our collective curiosity hungers for resolution. It's the most crucial part of the story.

You have 10-20 pages to get the reader hooked. How to start? Read a hundred books and see how other authors start their stories and see what feels right for you. Then blaze your own path into our imaginations!

I've found it easier and easier to sit down and start writing a novel, because the more I write, I find I often edit out the beginnings anyway. I tend to start too early, and so I chop whole chapters off in the end.

That means the words I started the whole thing off with in the beginning aren't even a part of the novel, and that makes it easier to just go and let the story happen.

Some others said this, too, but it's really important: don't be too critical of what your fingers type until you've got draft one finished. It might be that you're too hard on yourself. You're going to write crap, but as long as that crap tells your story, you can go back and polish it and no on will ever have to know that it started out life as crap (except all the other writers in the world, who know your pain. )

Zelenka said:

Way I've got over that is actually the opposite of what someone else said, but to plot more rigidly.

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I second this. I started writing as an organic, screw-outlines kinda girl and found that my ideas never went anywhere. All those novels I started got lost almost invariably by chapter 3.

I decided to give outlining a try. At first, even the outlines didn't even go anywhere, and it took me a long time to realize it was because I wasn't getting detailed enough. When I was introduced to the Snowflake Method, my writing really took off.

It's just a matter of personal preference, and how your brain works. I outlined the crap out of my current WIP, and I'm more confident then I've ever been that I'll actually get to type The End this time. But at the same time, I've got plenty of short stories that just fell out of my head.