{"id":1073,"date":"2016-03-16T09:18:20","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T09:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/simonlinter.com\/?p=1073"},"modified":"2019-05-17T09:15:57","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T09:15:57","slug":"16-march-2016-start-writing-get-past-intimidated-blank-word-processor-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simonlinter.com\/?p=1073","title":{"rendered":"How do you start writing and get past being intimidated by a blank word processor screen?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1074 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/simonlinter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/hand-on-keyboard-1241214-639x852-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/simonlinter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/hand-on-keyboard-1241214-639x852-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/simonlinter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/hand-on-keyboard-1241214-639x852.jpg 639w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>The white page of the word processor before you start tapping can be daunting. What do you write first? Should you try to write the best opening line ever? Or should you just type the first thing that comes into your head? Everybody is different and everybody will work in different ways. Some authors still prefer typewriters. Some prefer writing by hand. Most will probably use a computer. The best advice I can give is to write down any idea that pops into your head in a document. You can revisit these ideas and maybe pick one that you like the best. I have a document like this myself and I have written down some ideas that I think could work, some that won&#8217;t, and some that I don&#8217;t understand. The main point I am making here is just to write something. If you are thinking too much and feel your brain start to come out of your ears, then the chances of\u00a0writing something that day are slim. If you are really stuck, then why not just write down words that come to you. They don&#8217;t have to make grammatical sense but this process can free you up and loosen you up like an athlete warming up before a race. You might find that you can write something after doing this. Having said that you may also have an idea for a story but just can&#8217;t find a way of starting it. You don&#8217;t have to start writing a story from the start. If you have an idea, why not write one of the main events of the story from which you can work forwards or backwards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The white page of the word processor before you start tapping can be daunting. What do you write first? Should you try to write the best opening line ever? Or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/simonlinter.com\/?p=1073\" class=\"more-link style1-button\">Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linterview","jsn-master"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How do you start writing and get past being intimidated by a blank word processor screen? - simonlinter.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/simonlinter.com\/?p=1073\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How do you start writing and get past being intimidated by a blank word processor screen? - simonlinter.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The white page of the word processor before you start tapping can be daunting. 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