Hey guys,
I wanted to write a short post about starting a writing project, whether a story, novel or even poetry, it is important just to start. Sounds simple and obvious but it is one of the big things that comes out in my writing group and in talking with other writers I have met. I told a lovely lady the other night at my writers group that she needed simply to start and turn off her editor. Years ago I read countless books and articles about this topic, about turning off our internal editors and simply allowing our brains to create without being paralysed by critical thinking. After you have created your piece, then you can turn your editor on again. Then you can start to edit. But you need to write and create, without allowing your editor to destroy what you are writing. Through my writing experience this process has been solidified for me.
It is really important to remember that even if you start your novel in one way it will most likely not end up this way. I was telling my group the other night, that I had a beginning scene I was adamant was not going to be changed. I convinced my supervisor that my novel had to start with this sunrise scene. We had many conversations and in the end she said to me, “you can’t change that, it’s exactly how it should be, you need to keep the sunrise.” I was shocked. I had convinced her effectively.
Guess what happened about a year later in my editing process? I changed the beginning. I decided to start my novel from a different point in time for the characters. Changing the beginning was not something I thought I would ever do or even wanted to do. But, I did and I am glad I did.
Now, the beginning scene I wanted is in like Chapter 10 or something haha… 🙂 My point is that we need to just start writing, because things will change in the process of editing. Your beginning may not be what you originally started with, so therefore you don’t need to worry about whether it is perfect, because I can tell you one thing, it wont be perfect.
No writing is perfect from the beginning. Even established authors have to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite.
So let’s turn off our editors and simply start! Realise you may be even better than you thought anyway, and remember we all have to edit and rewrite a lot. 🙂 Go well, guys. Happy Writing!
Suzanne Strong 