The Art of Beginning
Starting always seems to be the hardest part. No matter what kind of beginning you’re facing—an academic paper, a blog, the first draft of a book, a business report, or even a new chapter in life—starting is a daunting task fraught with expectations, fears of inadequacy, and the worries of not knowing where it will lead.
Because we regularly face the formidable visual of the blank page and blinking cursor, writers and editors have a unique perspective on the art of beginning. By sheer frequency, we’ve had no choice but to find tricks and practices that help us get things started.
I’ve thought a lot about the challenge of beginnings lately and so I reached out to a handful of dear writer and editor friends for their thoughts, advice, and tricks. I received a gallery of truths, tips, thoughtful quotes, and ultimately, five unique approaches to the messiness and joys of beginnings. I hope their words inspire you as they have inspired me. Keep on writing, my friends, keep on starting.
Dig a Little Deeper
“When faced with a new start—a blank page, or a move across the country—I often hear myself reciting, almost as a mantra, the Joan Didion line, “It is easy to see the beginnings of things and harder to see the ends.” The problem for me as a writer and a person is that I don’t want just the beginning; I so often feel like I can’t start until I can foresee the end. There are many tips and tricks to get past this: free-writing, wild amounts of reading in as many genres as possible, literally “walking” my ideas around the track or around the block, starting with an image, or giving myself a “word bank,” ten words that I must use in a page, and working from there.
“What I’ve realized lately though, and what I’m telling both myself and my students, is that it’s not really about the tips and tricks. The tyranny of the blank page is often about something deeper, and if I’m willing to press into that, to ask myself the hard questions about what is actually keeping me from thinking or writing, often I’ll find the truer, better story there.”
– Beth Peterson, Assistant Professor of Writing at Grand Valley University
2. With Pen and Paper
“Beginning is hard. It takes courage to type that first word on a blank page, especially when, as a writer, you don't know when (or if) you'll reach ‘the end.’ I'm a firm believer in putting pen to paper to start a project, rather than relying on a computer. Somehow, I feel more free when physically writing—my creative juices can flow, I can scribble ideas, and it doesn't feel as permanent as typing. Whether I'm working on a novel, writing an article, or planning a major edit for a client, I like to give myself a page or two of free writing and brainstorming to start. Once I have a vision, I can transfer thoughts to the screen and begin in earnest.”
– Jillian Manning, Freelance Editor and former Acquisition Editor at HarperCollins
3. In the Middle
“‘Start with a problem.’ That’s what prolific author Cecil Murphey wrote about good beginnings. I believe by doing that we can write out of the thick of things. It reminds me of building mud pies as a kid—I could spit in the dust or I could jump into a sludgy puddle and really get my hands dirty.
“We don’t have to start at the “beginning” when we write, at least not in the first draft stage. I try to start in the middle of something—a nagging thought, an emotive memory, or a sensory detail—rather than attempting to explain my way up to it.”
– Amanda Cleary, Writer and Senior Development Editor at Moody Publishers
4. With the Pieces You Have
“Let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start,” sang Maria in The Sound of Music. Yet, as a writer, the beginning can prove initially elusive. When that happens, I write the part I do know. The chapter, the paragraph, the sentence, the phrase already alive in my mind. My projects come together like puzzles, adding pieces, connecting and discovering the whole. For sequential writers, this may feel disconcerting, but creating is like raising children—I can guide the process, and each child comes equipped with their own unique personality. Writing is a mix of predictability and discovery. Regardless of whether the beginning came at the beginning or is added later, the first sentence, paragraph, and chapter will receive the most attention and typically is the last part of the project to be polished and re-polished.
“I've learned to dive in and write badly rather than write nothing at all while waiting for the perfect beginning. Professional writers don't have the luxury of waiting for the muse or suffering from writers block. If muse is important to you, get a cat and name it Muse so you always have it with you. To begin is to elbow aside the fear of failing. Bad writing is brainstorming material and easily fixed, edited, and rewritten. No writing is – well – no building materials. ‘The way to get started,’ said Walt Disney, ‘is to quit talking and start doing.’”
— PeggySue Wells, bestselling author of 28 titles including Homeless for the Holidays and Chasing Sunrise"
5. Get Set, Brainstorm
“Your style of beginning may look different than mine. How does your brain work best? Do you need to put together an outline before you actually start writing? Do you need to verbally brainstorm with a friend? Do you need a ‘turn on computer, get a coffee, blast that song, and do 50 squats’ routine as you set up to work? Do you write better in the mornings and edit better in the afternoons?
“For me, I don't sit down to start a project unless I've brainstormed at least a portion of it. As I go about my other tasks, I brainstorm and prepare. Think, think, think. And that makes the starting easier because I'm armed with a battle plan. There's no sitting and waiting for the muse to arrive, no staring at the blank screen, there's no twiddling thumbs or tapping toes while thinking of all the other things I could be doing.
“Time is also a great motivator for me. With limited time to get many tasks done, this is another reason why it's necessary for me to know what I'm doing before I sit down.
“I do think the art of beginning is akin to building muscle. It gets easier the more we develop that muscle. Think about it: we start things multiple times a day—we start the shower, we start breakfast, we start a workout, we start that phone call, we start the laundry. But at one point in our lives, starting these things didn't come easy. We learned and developed these tasks into a habit. It's similar to training yourself to just sit down and start.
“And it doesn't matter where you start, just start. You can start with the conclusion paragraph, the title, the second bullet point for goodness sake... it doesn't matter. Just start.”
– Leilani Squires, Writer and Editor
