Start writing: Ten ways to get started
Longing to start writing and not sure how to get going? Read on for our top tips on using creative thinking to turn the ideas in your mind into words on a page.
Creative writing is a richly rewarding way of expressing yourself, enabling you to turn the ideas in your head into stories on the page. With creative writing, you can transform your imaginative life into part of your daily existence. You can bring characters to life on the page and create the stories that entice readers into the worlds you create.
You can start now.
Because creative writing starts with turning creative thinking into creative action. If you really want to write, you need to be invested in it. That means you need to commit to doing it regularly.
We’ve thought a lot about how busy everyone is these days, and how that can get in the way of doing the things you really want to do. Your time is precious – but so is your writing! With this in mind, we’ve set out a series of steps that will enable you to find your flow and write your story.
Read on to find various tools, prompts and creative inspirations to get you started – and keep you writing.
The First Steps
If you’re a writer, there’s nothing more exciting (and yes, sometimes terrifying!) than a blank page.
A page just waiting to be filled with your words.
All those stories, all those possibilities?
How do you choose which one to write?
How do you make a start?
With a new writing project, just like any creative project, that’s what you have to do. Make a start. But how?
Sometimes it’s straightforward – you have an idea, it arrives fully formed, and you know what you want to write. Something has sparked your imagination and given you the urge to put words on paper.
If that’s you, you’re lucky – a visit from the Muse with a fully-formed idea is something to celebrate. The early stages of this kind of project, where you’re burning to get your ideas onto paper or a screen, and you can’t write them fast enough, are a joy.
It’s what we all hope for. Getting off to a great start, the way ahead looks clear, and though there may be problems further along, that initial impetus to get words down can’t be beaten.
Beginnings are thrilling, but they can also be scary, and writing is no different from anything else. The main thing about starting something is that you’re setting out on a new journey – a new piece of writing. You might have a destination in mind, but you don’t know what kind of adventures you may have along the way. You just have to start.
Shall we get going?
10 ways to start writing
Let’s look at some sure-fire ways to get you writing something new.
1. Think about your relationship with writing
Are you giving yourself permission to write? To put down words on paper? Have you allowed yourself to say ‘I am a writer?’ The clue is in the name – if you write anything, you’re a writer. But you can’t be a writer - you can’t own the name – unless you write something down.
Exercise:
Write down the words ‘I am a writer.’
Look at them.
You have to believe them, because you just wrote them.
Now write some more!
Write down what it is you love about writing, how it makes you feel, how it allows you to express yourself.
Talk to yourself on the page.
Remind yourself why you were drawn to writing in the first place, and how you’d like to use your writing in the future.
2. Writing is a muscle that needs to be exercised – so warm up before you ‘start’.
Give yourself permission to write for a few moments without expectations, just to get yourself going.
Think of it as writing ‘stretches’ before your ‘workout’ – getting your writing brain ready and giving your mind the best chance of getting into the writing zone.
Why not try one of these writing stretches?
Write down four things that make you happy, and why.
Write about the last time you had a conversation with someone you’d never met before.
What was your favourite outfit when you were a teenager? Describe it.
What can you see, right now? How would you describe it to someone who isn’t there?
Write a short dialogue in the form of SMS or WhatsApp messages telling someone why you will be late for something.
3. Just write something!
It doesn’t matter if it’s a brilliant killer first line or – much more likely – far than perfect. The most important thing is that you’ve put words on a page. You can always go back, change them, edit them, add to them and even delete them. Those first words are something to work with. They signal that your project has moved from the ‘vague idea’ stage to the ‘potential work in progress’ stage.
Exercise:
Think about your writing project, and what you want to do with your character in today’s writing session.
Where are they?
What are they doing?
What’s it like being them?
How do they feel about it?
What are the words they’re thinking to themselves?
Write them down.
4. Mind full of ideas, but when you come to write them, it all freezes up and you can’t write a word?
Put down a basic sentence relating to your idea or project. And another. Once you’ve written a sentence or two, chances are your brain will click into ‘writing mode’ and you’ll find another sentence follows, and another – it’s called ‘finding your flow’.
Making a start is more important than getting it right.
See if this helps: What is it that you want to write about? Start a sentence: The story I am going to tell is about… and then carry on in your own words.
5. Give yourself permission to be messy. Particularly for the perfectionists amongst you, it’s essential to bear in mind that the first thing you write might not be exactly right but you can make it better. Playing with words and ideas on paper is a great way to get started.
Exercise: Writing quickly rather than stopping to think, write a passage that includes at least two but as many as possible of these words:
RIBBON
DISGUISED
BLUE
TRACE
SITUATION
VEHICLE
STAMP
HEATHER
MICHAEL
POST
6. Don't get hooked on the 'beginning'. Remember that the first phrase or sentence or paragraph that you write won’t necessarily end up as the beginning of your finished poem, or story, or piece of non-fiction. The process of writing isn’t about starting at the beginning and working through to the end. At this point, it’s simply about starting. So don’t get too hung up on getting it exactly right. It can always be changed, but if it’s written, it’s served its purpose, which is to get you going.
• Exercise: Write down three entirely different ideas that relate to the word ‘stretch’. Then pick your favourite, and write more about that one. When you’ve done it, take a moment to see where your original words fit into the passage you’ve written. Are they at the beginning, the middle or the end?
7. If you don’t know exactly what you want to write, try a writing prompt.
Writer’s brains tend to respond creatively to prompts like these, and a simple exercise can trigger an original idea for a piece of creative writing.
Find a prompt!
On Writers Online, there are all sorts of creative writing exercises just waiting for you to click on them! You’ll never know what brilliant ideas and wonderful words they might inspire until you try…
8. If you’re still not sure where to start, try free writing.
Just write. Fill a page with whatever comes into your mind, without trying to force it or make it ‘good’.
Writing guru Julia Cameron swears by her ‘morning pages’ and so do the many thousands of people who have been helped by her advice to live more fulfilled creative lives. Try It and see if it works for you.
Grab a notebook or screen and... what are you waiting for? Start writing!
9. Give yourself a designated time to write, and show up for yourself.
This is a disciplined way of writing that will remind yourself that you are a writer!
Open your notebook or blank document and make yourself write something in it. This approach works for journalists and content creators who have to produce words to deadline, and it can work for creative writers as well. You might want to wait for the Muse to strike, but she’s more likely to do so if she knows you’re waiting for her!
Exercise:
Go through your diary or planner for the next week and see what time you have available to fit in writing time.
Write down the time slots where you could do some writing.
Book yourself in, and make sure you show up for the appointments you’ve made with yourself and your writing.
10. Use your notebook. Think about what you’d like to write, and jot down some helpful notes to help you clarify your ideas. Who or what you going to write about? What’s your main idea? What’s the theme? What do you want to express? What do you hope a reader will take from the piece? What is the atmosphere you’d like to create? Why do you want to write this, now?
The best thing is that the more you write, the more you'll discover that ideas will come to find you!