“A beginning is only the start of a journey to another beginning.” (Photo credit: katerha)

It doesn’t matter whether this is the first thing you’ve ever written or your thirty first. You’ve got a new idea. You’re completely excited about it. You sit down to write it and… ugh.

Because that cursor just blinks forever at you and that blank page just stays so accusingly blank. Even if you manage to bang out a few sentences, they look so sad and pathetic. You start to not only doubt your story idea but also yourself. Your abilities, your dreams, everything about you is suddenly called into question.

You think about quitting even though you’ve barely begun. But I’m here to tell you not to. Because, believe it or not, everything you’re feeling right now is completely normal. And once you power through that feeling, the going gets much, much easier. 

Here’s the thing. Beginning sucks. For everyone. Most authors recommend leaving the beginning of your story as the very last thing you write because you can’t really know how to start a story until you know how it ends. But while there’s wisdom to that advice, you have to start somewhere and writing those first words, even if you skip past the true beginning of your story, is still terrifying.

I can tell you personally that even with dozens of articles, plays, books and stories under my belt, I still feel that same terror whenever I sit down to start something new. I don’t have a problem confessing to you that 90% of my first drafts actually start out with the sentence, “It begins… somehow” because I find it easier to skip to the meat of the story and go back and do the beginning later. I feel that same panic of starting regardless of the fact that I’ve written books and sold my writing and so do nearly all writers. You aren’t alone.

But it’s one thing for me to tell you to fight this panic and another for you to actually do it so I want to give you a couple of quick tips to try for getting past the terror of starting a new writing project.

• Skip ahead to the part that you’re most excited about writing. What’s the scene that made you want to write this story in the first place? Start with that. Not only will it be easier to write because you’ll be exited about it, but it will give you some momentum that will help you write the next scene and then the next.
• Tell yourself that what you’re writing isn’t the “real” beginning. This may seem like a psychological trick but it really works. There is something very freeing about writing something you’ve already given yourself permission to scrap or change. This “none of this matters” attitude can free you up to just get the first few words down on paper and get past the dreaded beginning. You’ll find that the more of your story you write, the easier it will be to continue from there.
• Intentionally start with the cheesiest scene you can think of. Think of terrible beginnings you’ve seen in movies or read in books. The dream sequence. The bad prologue.  The terrible murder related puns at the start of some CSI episodes. Try to intentionally write the cheesiest, most cliche beginning ever. This little trick has the advantage of distracting your brain. You’ll be concentrating on upping the cheese factor and, before you know it, you’ll have a start to your story. Is it THE start you’ll want to keep in your final draft? Probably not but you never know. At least it will get you writing.

Are you feeling the dread of starting something new? Share your beginning woes below.

Are you already a starting superstar? What have you used in the past to get past that awful feeling of writing those first words and make yourself move ahead in the story?