AFAWN - Getting Started - Part 3

WRITE!

“How do you do it?” A common question from family and friends. The answer is surprisingly simple once you get past Part 1 (Be Honest with Yourself) and Part 2 (Give Yourself Time). Just write.

You don’t have to have a fully fleshed out plot or a complete character arc planned. All you need is an idea, and maybe a character or two. If it helps, get an outline going. But don’t get hung up on that (see Part 4). The ultimate goal is to write actual lines, descriptions, dialogue.

Don’t worry about quality when you start. Don’t worry about explaining everything. The truth is that your first chapter, probably even your first full draft is going to be really bad. That’s ok!!! I know the first book I ever wrote to completion was utter garbage. Not necessarily the plot, but just how it was written. And that’s because I had never written a story before.

This harsh reality shouldn’t discourage you though because when you think about it, it’s actually liberating. It’s the natural progression of any activity you start doing for the first time. And in writing, it frees you from obsessing about your first sentence or whether something sounds cliche or whether you’re repeating a word too much. It frees you from formatting or grammar mistakes. Write in your own voice, in your own style, use slang if you want. Write in a way that makes you feel comfortable, in way so you enjoy writing. The bottom line is just write! Get your idea into some sort of readable form.

Remember, nothing is set in stone. When you’re done your draft, you can go back and change anything and everything you want. Or you can come up with a new idea and start a new story (which is what I did). Does that mean I wasted my time with that first draft? Absolutely not! It was a big learning experience and helped me write my next story which ended up being the first one I published.