How to Sink Your Teeth into a New Project

When you're starting out on a new creative project, it can be incredibly daunting to stare at that blank page. I don't know if sculptors, dancers, or musicians get blocked the way writers do, but there is a long and venerable tradition of writer's block that mostly has to do with the difficulty of beginning a new project, of investing yourself in an entirely new world and set of characters.

When I haven't written in a while, starting a new story can be agonizing. At first I think no idea that crosses my mind is even worthy taking notes about. Then I take a few sketchy notes, convinced all the while of their utter uselessness. A few days later I try a first paragraph, feeling lousy and sure that every word is awkward, cliched, and amateurish. But somehow, another paragraph and another comes. A new story is therefore born -- slowly and painfully! The way I manage to scale that mighty wall of writer's block is through a three-step process that may just help you set your first foot forward on a new project.

1) Change your environment

If you've been out of writing for a while, it can seem impossible to get in a creative mindset again. Part of the reason it seems so difficult is that you're currently in an environment where working or slacking or anything but writing is the norm.

To get yourself in the writing mood, use a technique I learned from a psychology class that insomniacs use. Often, people who can't fall asleep are people who use the bed for other activities during the day -- reading or watching TV, for example. That makes the bed an environment that isn't for sleeping, and so it's very hard to get to sleep. So to start your new project, make your first step changing up your environment. Find a quiet place where you don't normally work or play.

After the jump: eliminating pressure and taking baby steps.

2) Eliminate the pressure

If your last story was a success, starting a new one can be tremendously challenging. I know thoughts start to crowd my head: how exactly did I pull off that last story? How can I possibly write as well as that again? Will I ever have another good idea? There's a lot of pressure swirling around, and none of it is helpful for your writing. So as you pull out your notebook and pen or open a new document on your computer, take a moment to breathe. It's all right if this story stinks; there will be others that will shine, but you've got to start writing in order to get to them. Don't let the pressure be a factor in your thinking.

3) Start with a small step

As with other tasks, writing a new story is a large and frightening challenge. That is, it's frightening when seen as one whole task. Break it up into little things and just get started doing those, and you'll be amazed at how the pages start to add up. Assign yourself a manageable goal, such as just one scene or even just one paragraph or specific snatch of description. Do it thoughtfully. Then give yourself another little creative assignment. In this piece-by-piece way, I get stories done.

There are, of course, a lot more things to keep in mind once you're in the thick of your story and thinking seriously how to construct it. It can be very daunting to try and punch through that wall of the first page, though, and hopefully these steps will prove helpful to you for conquering it.

Comments

[Derek]

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[Cassandra Jade]

That blank page can be incredibly daunting. Thanks for sharing your tips on overcoming this.

[Naomi Hamm]

Yes and also basically if you normally write at home in your kitchen or your office, get out and break away from that habit and go to a library or a quaint cafe or the city park you frequent to get away from everyone. Sometimes just 10-15 minutes worth of free-style prose to just enliven the day and turn the blank page into written words will naturally speed you on your way whether you left writing for a year or to years or only 1 week.

Also don't forget to link up with your muse and ask her for good luck and her guidance cause like the angels that's what she is there for.

Call upon her by her name, she is there waiting behind the pruple curtain, in hopes you believe and that you will truly reach out to her for the help she is so willing to bestow upon you, her most cherished prize, her charge of which she has been handed to before you were born.

always carry papers, pens notebooks, small dictionaries, etc and when the mood hits, at least you'll be on your toes enough to place that first though, that first character's name down, and who knows maybe even the title to your next novel is all it takes to lead you down the writer's pathway.

Oh by the way great picture of the country road in green grass, leading us to the greener pastures we seek to conquer our fright of failure of which is why some of us, let ourselves stagnate and turn away.

The real failure is only to not try. Because at least you have to courage to make the commitment and then carry it through which most defineatly at some oment in times leads to present or future success.

[Simone]

The internal dialogue of writers is so comforting. It's nice to know we all start out the same way and deal with so many of the same issues. It makes a lonely profession less so.

A couple of years ago, The New York Times published an anthology of essays by writers on writing, titled, what else, Writers on Writing. It provides a wealth of information, tips and insights on dealing with the writer’s life.

Nice blog.