Three Easy Ways to Start Writing Today
Go on, what are you waiting for?
I’ve been writing for most of my adult life. I’m 52 now, so you do the math! I also did a couple of semesters teaching writing for children to adults and along the way I’ve learned a few things that I thought I could share. You might have already heard a few of these already, but maybe you haven’t.
Okay, so you want to write, but how do you start?
Here’s my step-by-step guide to getting started on writing a novel or short story. I was going to put something in about non-fiction, blog writing or article writing as many of these tips work for those too, but that would have made this article too complicated. So, I’m sticking to fiction.
Here’s what you need to do:
1.Start with an idea
Yes, it’s that simple, but where do you get your ideas from? For me, I get ideas from all over the place and they almost always come to me when I’m not doing anything or I’m bored. I never seem to get ideas when I’m busy and thinking about something else; I have to be in that almost dream-like state when you have nothing to do and you’re just staring at something mundane, or people watching from a café, or day dreaming on public transport. The only time ideas come to me when I’m doing something is when I’m reading non-fiction, particularly historical articles and magazines, or certain television programmes, again usually documentaries about history. Why history? I have a particular interest in history and often think: ah, that’s an interesting point they made there, I wonder if… And so begins the story. You might be different, but next time you’re watching a particularly interesting documentary, look at one of the people the documentary is about or who is being interviewed and ask yourself: what if that person was a character in a novel, what would be their story?
Anyway, here are some places where I get ideas from:
- People watching — I might see someone interesting looking and wonder what their story could be. From there, a little seed begins to germinate and before I know it, I have the protagonist or antagonist of my latest story.
- Daydreaming — there’s nothing like daydreaming to get the creative juices flowing for me. I let my mind wander and I think about things I’ve seen or heard over the past couple of days. I might even think of things that happened in the past. Then ideas start popping up and I begin to formulate a story.
- Personal experiences — I once worked with a woman who was so obnoxious, I got my revenge by writing her into a book as a character that came to a particularly nasty end. That’s one use of personal experience I have put into my books. There are many, many more. Think about something that has happened to you (or someone you know) and use it as the basis for your book. It can be anything from divorce, first love, revenge or something else.
- Place names and car number plates — have you ever seen a street name and marvelled about how unusual it is? I have and that name became a character name in a fantasy book. What about car number plates? Do you look at the letters in the numberplate and start to form names? You get the name; you have your character. From there you can develop the character and their storyline.
- Names from the telephone directory or businesses — I often struggle to get good character names, so I dig out the telephone directory, flick through it and (eyes closed) plonk my finger on to a name. If I don’t like the name, I don’t use it. Or I might use the surname. Or I might change the surname by one vowel to create a stranger name.
- Books, magazines, online sites — I find reading about actual historical events can often trigger ideas. For instance, you could write a story surrounding an alternative version of history or you could update the real story and have it happen in the modern world. What would happen, for instance, if Hitler was resurrected and came to power in today’s world?
2. Commit to Writing
Well, duh! You’ve got your story, now you have to write it. Most people start out all bright-eyed and enthusiastic about writing their ‘great novel’. They will spend a couple of hours on the first day and bang out a few hundred words. They might do another couple of hundred the next day and then it all fizzles out. The novel is left to ‘rot’ in the computer/laptop/notebook and is never seen again.
Is that you? Yes? Okay, you’re not different from many other people, so don’t worry about it, but do something about it. Commit to your writing. That means setting time aside every day (or nearly every day depending on your commitments) to write. That means having a space to write, whether that’s on the kitchen table or (if you’re lucky enough) your home study. That means sitting down at your computer and just doing it.
Here’s what I do, you don’t have to follow this exactly, but it works for me:
- I have a weekly planner for my writing (and my other pieces of work) that I stick to every day. It helps me work out what I have to do for that week and makes sure I’m writing fiction every single day. I’ve attached a template of that planner for you to download at the end of this article. You might also want to think about doing an annual schedule so that you know when you are planning to write your books, when you will be editing and when they will be published.
- When starting a new novel, I sit down with a pen and a large sketching pad and jot down some ideas. I use mind mapping/spider diagrams to work out who my protagonist is, the secondary characters, the antagonist and a rough idea of the plot. I also write down any secondary plots and any themes I want running through my novel.
- Then I sit at my laptop and I write up a plan of the book from start to finish. I don’t always follow this plan exactly. Okay, if I’m perfectly honest, I never follow this plan exactly. Things happen, new ideas are made and incorporated into the story. However, I do follow it mostly. I’m the type of person who, if I don’t have a plan of what I’m writing next, will not write the next bit. I need the plan to do the work. Following this step helped me write my last book, Loch Ness, in six weeks.
- Once that plan is finished, I go back and start writing the book properly, putting in all the descriptions, dialogue, settings, action, feelings etc that it needs to be a good book.
- Once that’s done, it’s time to leave the novel for a few weeks. I usually leave mine for at least two weeks, preferably four, so that I have almost forgotten about what I wrote. That way I can go back to it with fresh eyes and pick out the imperfections and mistakes. Yes, I have written nine novels so far (and a further two that haven’t yet been published) and there are always mistakes in them. Always. I am no different from anyone else.
One thing I’d advise you to do is keep a log of who the characters and place settings are, what they look like, what they do for a living, who are their family and friends, what their role is in the story, and anything else that is important about them. Trust me, you don’t want to have to scroll through 30,000 words just to find out what Jessie’s eye colour is because you’d forgotten it!
3.Read as much as you can
Don’t just read your genre, read everything and anything. You never know when something might pop up that you could use in your novel or that will help you in your writing. Not only will reading other good writers help you with your own writing, but it will show you how a great writer does what he or she does.
Read books on writing too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up some great ideas and tips from books on writing. Here are a few of my favourite recent reads:
- The Trope Thesaurus Paperback by Jennifer Hilt
- Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
- Fight Like a Girl: Writing Fight Scenes for Female Characters by Aiki Flinthart
Other books I have been reading and gotten a lot from include (these are not books on writing, but are self-help):
- Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace by Anne Lamott
- Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
Hopefully that’s been helpful and you’ll now want to go away and start writing. Please don’t feel overwhelmed by this advice. Take it a bit at a time and see how you go. Use the tips that work for you, ditch the rest.
Here’s my weekly planner template
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