Hi, folks. Just thought I’d share something that may be helpful to the writers among you – particularly those who are experiencing writer’s block or just can’t get going.
My boyfriend is a brilliant story-teller. He has tales in his head that need to be told – so many stories that have yet to reach paper. One night he was telling me the basic synopsis of a story idea he had, and I loved it. I wanted to see it made. He said he hadn’t yet written it down or typed it up, and I asked why. His response was that he didn’t know where to start.
This is something I’ve heard a lot. And I’ve certainly experienced it too. Where do you start when you have nothing but scattered ideas? How do you write the first line or the first page when you have so much crowding your thoughts? But since I was not in his situation enduring his predicament, a possible approach occurred to me that previously hadn’t. And it may prove a useful method to consider – if not for you, then maybe for a friend. It certainly inspired my man, and even myself. And I’m glad for that, because I am often discouraged from writing at all because I never know where to start. But like many things, it helps to take small steps…
Since he was able to give me a brief synopsis – a basic outline of the characters, themes, and events – I suggested that he simply type up exactly what he had told me. And then go over the document from the beginning and expand on each part. And go back again and keep expanding. And expanding. Once you have the basic idea, you can go back and focus on each little part of an idea and work it all up with detail into something big. Before you know it, your rough synopsis is a detailed outline, and may contain details you’d never thought of before. You may be writing entire scenes just due to the focus you’re able to give to each specific part.
If you know there’s going to be a hero and a mentor, a bad guy and a love interest, and you aren’t really feeling clear about how to introduce them, just focus on who the characters are for a bit. Expand on them. Maybe you’ll work up such detail in their background and personality that eventually the words fall into place. And if you know you want to start the story with your hero, and you know the setting you wish them to appear in, start focusing on the required details. Where is the hero? Who are they with? Why are they there? How do they feel? At some point, the necessary opening might just pop up.
That’s one part of it – focusing and expanding on details until the story starts telling itself. It’s about spending time with your story’s world. The more you iron out the details and really consider the world your story takes place in, the easier it should get.
But it’s also about planning. This is the other part. Having the idea or the plot is one thing. But having the right order, layout, beginning, middle, end, etc., can be hard to determine without a little extra planning.
I remember back in school and university, we’d always be encouraged to write out our essay plans first before commencing the actual essay. I always thought it was a waste of time. I just wanted to get straight into writing, but then I’d waste days just figuring out how to start and where to go after I did. It may not sound fun, and it may not necessarily work for everyone, but plans really can be useful. Just look at your synopsis, break it up into parts, and perfect it. Give labels to all the parts of the story (chapter ideas may evolve from here too). Once you know what each part of the story needs to do, you can go back and add details in all the right places.
So, to summarise:
- Type up your rough plot in order of events (if you have that figured out). Even if you have no order to it yet, just type up whatever you do have. Sometimes just starting is the key.
- Go over it and over it, and add details until you know everything you need to know about each part of this story and all its components.
- At some point when all the details and the structure is determined, you can probably start writing it!
This approach mostly came to me through a fictional lens, but I am sure it would apply easily to non-fiction and other writing. Details and planning - that’s what it comes down to. Once you have the three resources at hand – your basic plot, your epic details, and your organised plan – “where to start” should come to you a lot easier. Well, it might.
If it doesn’t, that’s a shame. Maybe that’s just not how you do things. And that’s perfectly fine! It’ll come to you, so keep at it. I don’t actually have all the answers, but it’s worth putting this out there. You never know when your perspective can be significant for someone else.
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