How do you start writing a novel?

It’s a question I’ve been asked so many times. How do you start writing a novel?

A lot of people have dreamed of one day putting pen to paper, but they struggle to find the time and often simply don’t know where to start.

The blank page can be a daunting hurdle to overcome, so let’s start there.

Imagine you’re sitting at your computer staring at your word document. Its frustrating pulsing cursor is blinking at you, almost mocking you as it waits to reveal your amazing opening sentence.

“Once upon a time.” Hmm, no. Delete.

“It’ll all began on a Wednesday.” Hmm, probably not. Delete.

That bloody cursor is still blinking. So what’s my opening line?

The fact is there’s nothing to say you have to start at the beginning and nothing to say you have to nail it first go. What matters is that you just start writing.

Have the perfect protagonist in your mind? Describe them. Write down a list of all the things you see in your main character. How tall are they? What kind of clothes do they wear? What do they smell like? How’s their job situation? Are they in love? Did they finish school? Do they have good relationships with their parents, siblings and friends? What characteristic makes you want to write about them? Start typing and before long you won’t have an empty page. You’ll have your lead character. Maybe you’ll even start to outline the relationships and other characters they will interact with during the story.

Or, maybe you’re on the train or daydreaming in a boring meeting at work and you think about an incredible sequence of events. There’s a fire in an old depot and a series of explosions starts a roaring bushfire. There’s a car chase and the police ram the getaway vehicle forcing it off the road and it flips as if in slow motion. There’s a sexy bartender mixing cocktails and his biceps are bulging as he slaps the glass into the shaker and tosses it into the air. Write it down. Picture yourself there. Explain what you see and hear. Explore the sights, smells, tastes and sounds as your imagination pieces the scene together. Describe how it makes you feel. Does it go at the start of the novel or the end? Is it the climax or just a random event? It doesn’t matter. Get it out of your head and onto the paper. You can rewrite, reorder and rework it at any time.

The answer to the question of how to start is frustratingly simple. You just start writing. It doesn’t matter if you start with a place, an event or a person. It doesn’t matter where you think it’ll fit in the story. It doesn’t matter if it’s a full idea or only partial. And it doesn’t matter if it even ends up in the final version of your story. What matters is that you’ve started, you’re exploring ideas and concepts, thinking about characters and relationships, starting to build your story world.

Feels good, right?

As for when you should start and how much time you need, well, there’s no better time than now. It’ll take time and patience, and you’ll read and edit it countless times, before you’re happy with it. But that’s part of the fun. Every time you read it or think about it you’ll have a new idea or add a new phrase, maybe tweak some of the language. And when you get to that point, we’ll be here to help!

Happy writing!