Fiction Writing: Where Do I Start?

Where to begin writing a story, for the uninitiated.

This question pops up all the time with new writers. Understandably. When you're new to anything, finding the best way in proves difficult. Do you launch into a story straight away? Journal? Class? How do you know you're doing it right? Is there a 'right' way to write and a 'wrong' way? How do you pull it all together to make a piece of literature that readers will enjoy? And how will you find time to write in your busy schedule, anyway? Or, like many people, perhaps you made a promise to yourself that after Christmas was over, you'd write that book you've been talking about to anyone who will listen.

It's still early in the year. Still at the relative beginning. Still, in that residual period of the New Year's resolution that most people have given up on. Those who promised to attack a new writing hobby failed to get off the starting blocks. For many people, the biggest hurdle of all is simply getting started. In the wintery northern hemisphere, at least. It's easier to stay home, snuggle down, watch TV or read a book. But who made the rule that if you didn’t succeed in the first few weeks of the year you should give up on your resolution for the whole of the rest of the year? Aren’t we supposed to try, try again if at first we don’t succeed?

Quiet time doesn't take much effort. And we need it. We need to recharge. Yoga, diets, writing books – they all do take effort. Lots of it. We've all been there, at the beginning, when we start these things with gusto. A couple of weeks in and we realise the dream we envisaged of thin, fit, or Pulitzer Prize-worthy ain't so easy after all. The fitness and diets feel like unnecessary torture, and the writing feels like homework. Which it is. It’s voluntary homework. Scraps of the novel rest on a hard drive, all its ideas and possibilities left in a digital desert of nowhere land.

Any of this sound familiar?

Well, feel somewhat encouraged that now is the time to revive that promise to yourself. If you are dithering on where to start, the only hurdle is your own uncertainty. You might even hold yourself back from fear of getting it wrong. It's not too late, you are NOT a failure, and you CAN do it. So, do it now. One step at a time.

First thing to know about writing: there's no 'wrong' way to write. Writing expresses your thoughts and emotions, just like drawing, painting, singing or playing music. Do it for your own enjoyment to begin with, and there's no wrong way to enjoy yourself through writing, or singing, or art. There comes a point where, as with playing music, you'll need to learn the techniques to make it sound good. Music, art, writing – they are not one-way relationships. Eventually, someone will see or hear them and they will form an opinion. But you're not at that stage right now, so don't hold back. Express your thoughts on paper. It's for your eyes only. If you need some help to carve out time to write, read this article at the old blog to get you into a routine.

So, where to start an actual story? Why, with an idea, of course! Nothing can start without ideas, so cultivate some. This might sound obvious to some, but I encounter untold numbers of enquiring writers who don't know where to start because they lack this essential ingredient. They don't, really; they just don't know how to mine for them. Once you learn how to mine for ideas, you'll have the opposite problem: too many ideas to settle on.

Ideas require downtime. Reflection time. Time to mull over what's been going on in our lives, in the world, and how we feel about it. With the incessant news reels and other demands on our attention bombarding us daily, it's difficult to separate ourselves long enough to process our thoughts and feelings, even if it also acts as a stimulator of issues we want to write about. And popular culture has a habit of guilt-tripping us if we are not constantly on the move.

Well, I'm here to tell you that staring out of windows or into the middle distance is part of a writer's job. If you want to write, spending time in solitude while you mull things over is a dietary requirement for the budding author. Writing is thinking. Then articulating those thoughts through your fingers. If you don't enjoy cerebral activities, using your imagination, or introspection, then writing might not be your forte. I have a friend who says she regularly goes for a coffee at her local café just to sit, think, make notes about stories or poetry, and drink in the world. Often, people she knows see her and ask her to join them, feeling she might be lonely, but she politely refuses. You have to opt into solitude and make the space to think. Being around the outside world can be great stimulation for the imagination, but it doesn't mean you must allow it to impose on your solitude. If you have difficulty setting boundaries with others, you might struggle to fence off your writing and thinking time.

In terms of the writing itself, there's a lot to learn about fiction. What you think you know is just the tip of the iceberg. Rather than use random writing prompts you find on social media, the best thing to start with is writing exercises. Take a class, or buy a book, and do the exercises they suggest. The lessons within these learning materials are specifically designed to help you understand the underpinning concepts of fiction writing, and to put them into practise. There are specific learning outcomes expected from the participating student not inherent within random prompts. Writing exercises will provoke new ideas, encourage you to carefully consider your writing approaches, introduce you to techniques you don't yet know exist, and have you learn through experience. If you're taking a class, coupled with the intended learning outcome, feedback from your tutor should be invaluable in helping you learn the techniques of writing.

Do not mistake writing exercises as fully fleshed stories. It's part of the writer's journey to develop self-awareness around their writing, including how to manage their expectations by differentiating between a nicely written narration and a completed narrative arc. Don't get too emotionally entrenched in your early pieces. Move onto the next piece, the next learning curve, and keep writing new material. Don't be afraid to tackle what's outside your comfort zone. I meet so many writers who are switched off to this idea, but challenging yourself is the only way to succeed. If you don't stretch your talents during the learning phase, you deny yourself so much. You never know what you might uncover, what you might enjoy. Be open to suggestion. You are at the beginning of your writing path. This is the time for experimentation and exploration. And sometimes – oftentimes – writers surprise themselves at how much they enjoy, and maybe even have a gift for, writing in a genre or style they would never have considered before.

Okay, so you've carved out a routine, you've taken up a class or some kind of writing book, you've tested out some scenes, characters and descriptive pieces and learned a few new skills. You feel you're ready to start a story. Now what?

What's your most pressing idea? Go with whatever glows strongest in your mind. It's best to capitalise on the thing that enthuses you the most, and grow it from there. Got a great premise for a story? Write it down. This will be the crux of your idea. It doesn't need to be perfect, and it might need adjusting later on when story logic and consistency kicks in from the actual manuscript. Got a character you created in an exercise that you can't stop thinking about? Again, write it down. Who are they? Where are they? Where have they come from? Or maybe you have a whole world growing in your imagination, full of magic or technology, dystopia or utopia. Write. It. Down. Make notes. Notes become worlds, characters, actions, and when those three come together in one well-imagined idea, it will have a lot more forward motion to it.

Once you have the crux of an idea, you can build on it.

These are all ways to start writing. It really depends on your particular situation and what your current strengths and weaknesses are. As with any New Year's resolution, don't look at the whole mountain and how far you have to climb to get to its peak. You will baulk. Focus on one foothold at a time. Don't expect to fly miraculously to the top, either. Everyone starts from the bottom.

Here's another exercise to get you started. If you are interested in more, and would like to learn some writing techniques and receive feedback on your work, sign up to one of my online starter classes. Message me for more info.