Have you longed to write a book, a poem, a paper that will make your teacher cry with joy after seeing it? Have you never dared to do it or tried and failed?
Don't worry, these few tips that I tried myself should help you break the ice!
1) Write what you really want to write.
There is probably nothing worse than writing something you don't want to write about. Remember those essays and essays they made you write in school? Forget it, it's not writing.
The best writers did not write their works because they tried to copy the styles or themes of other writers and become "as good as the others". They did not become the best when trying to follow the rules of literary classics (or the language of angry uncles in institutions).
If you want to write, don't be afraid and write what you want most, find your topic. Want to write in first person, present tense, about a gay space cowboy couple on Mars and how they tried to pretend to be girls? Please, your will. Want to write in first person for three characters at once, with one shared dialogue? Go ahead, it's your work, you're writing it - why are you still asking?
2) Don't try to write something original.
Even in the good old Bible it is mentioned that what can be created has already been created. Don't try to invent some incredible and new scenario, some incredible characters or places.
In order to write a good story, you only need one single topic that you really, really, really like.
As you write, that subject will come up more than once or twice without you even trying, and your work will be remembered precisely because of it. H. Murakami likes mystical stories and never forgets shadows, sheep and paper clips. E. Hemingway liked stoic "man against nature" themes. How worse are you that you can't have that special thing of yours?
3) Don't try to write perfectly.
Don't worry, I'll reassure you that no matter how hard you try to write your piece perfectly, it won't be perfect for everyone. It is inevitable, every reader has his own taste - there is not and will not be one solution for everything.
4) Don't try to write perfectly.
Don't try to write everything in such a way that you don't have to correct something. You will need to correct it more than once or twice until your work reaches the final, corrected stage. Often you will even have to cut out huge pieces of text, expand them elsewhere, replace them with something else.
While writing, try not to stop and start correcting what you have already written - leave it for the time when you have already written everything and have the "skeleton" of the work.
5) Don't stop writing.
When writing, don't stop in the middle of a paragraph or in the middle of a chapter for unimportant details. In the first writing, you should concentrate on creating the "skeleton" of the story itself, you don't care if the walls of the room were purple or red, as long as you are not writing about hypnotic rooms.
In the gaps where I don't know what to write, where I think it should be extended or I just can't think of anything to add, I just mark "[[Add to this later]]" or "[[Describe in more detail]]" and continue writing. Next time I go back, after I've finished the skeleton, I expand or change everything as needed.
6) Do not show anyone what you write.
When you stop writing, there is probably a big temptation to brag to friends and other acquaintances that you are finally writing something. The desire itself is great, because saying that you are writing forces yourself to finish your writing. Well, you don't want embarrassing explanations, do you?
But when you announce that you are writing, there is a problem that there will be people who want to read it, and whether the readers want it or not, you will express your opinion. Other people's opinions before your piece is finished are your worst enemy - don't listen to them.
Why? Simple - such critics will express their favorite style, their favorite themes, their favorite ways of telling stories. If you start writing, as others advise, how will you be able to call your work YOUR work?
When the work is finished, when you have already written the basis, it's great - show it, maybe you'll see some new mistakes, maybe you'll fix something. But until you write the skeleton - don't even try to show it to anyone.
7) Remember that it is not necessary to write from scratch.
It will probably be interesting to hear that many writers do not even try to write their works from scratch. They start anywhere but at the beginning. Some writers start writing from the last sentence, that last paragraph that tells how the story ended. And then, after writing it, he starts writing.
Maybe this method is not the best for all writers without exception, but for others it is a great tool to "see" the whole sequence of the story before their eyes.
Remember that this is your work and it doesn't matter if you write from the beginning or from the middle - what matters is that you write something at all.
Thank you