I want to start writing but where do I start?

[lin4catz]

Hi, I want to start writing but where and how do I start? I know I should start small. Any tips?

[shadowwalker]

Not sure what you mean by starting small. And your question is really just too vague. You start writing by writing. You need to have some command of grammar, know something about story structure, characterization. Having read a lot helps tremendously.

But something more concrete would help here - what part of writing is keeping you from starting?

[pls]

I'm going out on a limb here and assuming that you are asking about writing fiction.

If you're over 21, make sure that you've read at least 100 examples of the field in which you intend to write. If younger, get started now! What I'm trying to say is that if you've only read the "Twilight" series, you're far from ready to write YA fiction.

Once you have a feel for your area, use the old "What if?" and "If this goes on …" prompts that work well for science fiction writers. For example, let's say that you start with a girl who has found a box half-buried in beach sand (or in the dirt if you live in Kansas as I do). What if … there's only a folded piece of paper in the box? What's written on the paper. What if it's written in an obscure language? What if the girl tries to read it, and suddenly something happens? Etc.

Or … a boy of 12 is being bullied. If it goes on … what does he do to combat the bullying? Do you need to do a little research to find out what your local school district rules are about bullying? Etc.

Once you have a story idea in mind, it may be best to jot down an outline, which you can ignore or use as you progress (but you'll always have something to go back to if you get stuck).

Then … use the BIC (butt in chair) principle to write your story. Write, writewritewrite Revise revisereviserevise. Write some more, revise, Repeat until you've finished. Post a first chapter here in the appropriate critique forum for feedback. (Remember that we're critiquing your writing, not you.) Then revise and write some more. Etc. Good luck!

[mammamaia]

i can only ditto paul's sage advice...

in a nutshell, you start by reading the kind of thing you want to write...

[ramboyearone]

(I am italian, be patient with my english)

+read much

+write much.

+Begin with sort stories.

+Learn also to write as a game, or just to try and see what happens. Never be worry about wasting time or ink: this is very important. If you only want to write GOOD, you will never become a good writer. It's like in a war: you must have some losses. So, write as much 'superbestesellers' as much as 'just to try' short tales made to be wasted, just to see if you are good in writing everything.
For example, try do describe something, and write it. This will make you more powerful in descriptions. Do this for anything you think you are not good at.
Oh, and by the way, never think you are good. Always be 100% sure that 'one day' you will be. This is how good writers think.

+ Try to write an ultrashort story every day. The story only, not all the text. Doing this you will have many bad ideas, but later the good ones will come real fast (brainstorming). Push this to the limits. You wil find how your mind works. Feel it and than master it. Push it. You don't know what your are capable of.

+When you feel you begin to understand overall how writing works, thake the best of the many ideas you had, write something short and complete it. Than wait around one month.
Do NOT re-read during this month.
You don't see mistakes if you re-read immediatly, and if you do, the month wait will be longer. This is really important. Re-writing is as difficult as writing.
Ok, you have waited one month. Do you now see the 'good' and 'not so good' of what you wrote? Ok. Now try to remember: how did you wrote the good parts? Were you thinking to style or story development? Were you writing to make a bestseller o just for fun? Feel the 'mind phase' you were while writing the good parts, and than FORCE you to write again like this. it is THIS that make you better. When you get to do this, you will become a pro.

+ Write what you are good at, not what you want.

+ ok. You have learnt the method: you write good ideas spending many time, and you spend less time to write very short fiction made only to become a better writer.
Doh!
We have a real problem here: the short 'writing exercise' fiction is better than the works I made to become a bestseller writer.
"I am spending a lot of time on good ideas writing them bad, and a very little time on bad ideas writing them good." it's normal when you are new to writing.
And yes, when you write 'just for fun or exercise', you write better and have better ideas.
When you have accepted it, and you have learnt to ALWAYS write like this, you will become an outstanding writer.

[SeeDBee]

I suggest signing up for writing classes. That's what I'm doing. It costs $, but it's a darn good investment. I'm now on my second Writers Digest class and it's much easier to see the path to success when able to work with an existing structure. Chuck

[Luke]

Hi, I want to start writing but where and how do I start? I know I should start small. Any tips?

Usually, there are at least two problems to solve.

Start with those.

[Marycv]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean start small. In regards how to start writing, talk about something what is interesting to you or have experience in. Maybe talk about your something happened in your life, make a blog into a book, or have a fiction story. Read some books, look at articles online, watch a movie, or go for a walk to get ideas, they may spark some ideas.

[leilakalm]

Hi, I want to start writing but where and how do I start? I know I should start small. Any tips?

Other people have already given some great advice here, but I'd like to add that I think the place to start is figuring out WHY you want to write. Some people want to write to get their opinions heard. Some people want to write to share an experience, or to teach, or to make money, or to change the world. Once you know why you want to write, that knowledge will guide almost everything about your writing. And then you just start. And you write and you write and you write, even if it's all crap. Because the more you write, the more you improve your writing and get closer to that purpose you had in mind when you started.

Leila
http://howwelivestories.com — Telling people's life-changing true stories

[Anya Kylash]

Begin at the beginning! It's the best place to begin!

Actually, get a hold of whatever story you want to write. Think on what perspective you want to write it in. Let's take Harry Potter, for example. There are three places in a story you can start.

1. This is the very beginning of a story, where there's no past story or underlying plot. James and Lilly are enrolled in Hogwarts. You write on and on until you finally reach the first Harry Potter book, which begins...
2. Harry knows nothing about his parents. He still has a lot to learn, the future and his past included. Or...
3. You can write as if everything has already happened. You can write in Harry's point of view of him recalling absolutely everything in his past. At this point, everything's decided and you know that the main character lives happily, or not-so-happily, ever after.

2 and 3 can go over and over again. There's always some past, but #1 means that there's nothing vital to your story in the past. You could write your books like J.K. did, or you could write as if it's all over. You could add so many sequels. They could all be Harry talking about his past, or, you could go back to Number two and put all of Harry's adventures in the past, write in #2's way with his children, or perhaps Hermione and Ron's children.

So you've just got to stick your nose into the story and ruffle things around until you've found a place to start. You could put a dark past with the character and the villain already in progress. You could have them starting to become enemies. You could have them recollecting on how easy it was for them to hate each other.

I hope I could help!

And remember, there's only one perfect beginning. Make sure you've got the right one before it's written in stone.