No matter how much inspiration you might have gotten from all the books and stories that you might have read so far, the moment you sit down to actually write a story yourself, it can feel like an impossible task.
As a novice writer, you will go through many challenges, and getting started is actually one of them.
To make it easier for you, we have jotted down some potent tips that will help you with your first story.
Keep reading.
Don’t Get Carried Away
It is your first story, which is why there is a great chance that you might get carried away with the story. Now, being enthusiastic about your story is one thing; however, getting carried away won’t help you. Of course, your idea might be intriguing and epic, but how would you take that idea or feeling that you are so excited about and transfer it onto the blank page?
The first thing you want to realize is that it is not possible to transfer all the details exactly as you want to, in the right order you want to, at a good pace you would like to, and have no problem doing it. You only have that much control.
You might ask a professional writer, and they will tell you the exact same thing. For instance, if you are planning to write a memoir and you have loads of amazing things to share with your readers, it will still be impossible to jot down all the details without compromising on the quality of your book.
Speaking of a memoir, if you have exciting instances to share with your ideal readers but can’t find the time to do all of the writing yourself, you might want to hire a memoir writer and get the help of a professional to get your story out and in the hands of your ideal readers.
It is important to mention here that simply because you cannot put everything on the page doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not a good writer. Approaching it that way is simply too big of a task, as you are more likely to be overwhelmed by all the potential things that you are excited to write.
At this point, you might be wondering what you can do instead, which is exactly what we are about to tell you. Instead of getting carried away with all the topics that you want to touch on in your book, you will want to start writing by narrowing everything down to one thing and one thing only.
So, you will want to sit down and brutally assess what matters the most to you in the story. The thing about stories is that stories are always about people, so you will want to narrow down things to the one thing that will matter to your readers the most.
Start with a Significant Moment
You don’t necessarily have to follow a specific order when you are writing a story or a memoir. If you are lost at the opening lines of your book, your best option would be to start with a specific moment. Choose a moment that is special and that you would love to write about, as you can leave the intro for later.
So, when it comes to the question of where to start, you might want to do some thinking and think about your favorite book or your favorite movie. Now, think about the first lines of your favorite book and assess whether the first few lines tell you everything about the story.
Do the first lines even tell you everything you need to know about the story? The answer is more likely to be in the negative because you have been in the book for only a few moments. The same rule applies to starting a story as you simply have to start with a moment as you cannot include all the details that your readers are going to need to know in the first few lines.
If you dump too much information in the opening lines, it will be overwhelming to the readers; it will also put a serious strain on you, as too much information is hard to write, and excessive information also makes it harder for you to hook your readers.
If you really want to nail the first few lines of your story, you will need to reduce your story to a single moment. You don’t necessarily have to pack the moment with loads of action, and you also don’t have to start with a hugely significant moment. However, it needs to be a moment that absolutely feels real. So, you will want to understand your character’s viewpoint and understand what your character is doing at that given moment.
Remember that a moment is a tiny slice of a character’s life, and when you focus on that one moment, it tricks the readers into believing that the character is a real person.
Stay Relaxed
To nail your first story, you must avoid getting overwhelmed and feeling pressured to come up with a best-seller book. Similar to any other thing that we do, it is way easier to write if we don’t feel the pressure, stress out, and overwhelm ourselves.
If we show a moment of the character’s life and give the readers a moment that might not have all of the information – – you don’t really need to give your readers all the information on the first page. You might do it later when you are describing scenes that carry the backstory of the character.
Whenever you write a page, you will want to ask yourself what your reader is feeling about this all. If you are packing in all the information and the return on the investment of all of the words that you jotted down is not really that much, you will feel disappointed.
So, it will be more effective and easier to write if you avoid getting overwhelmed. All you need to do is to start writing by showing a slice of the character’s life – everything else will follow suit smoothly.
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