How to Get Started Writing

It is difficult to begin. Anything is hard at first. You have to create a practice, a habit, and then "muscle memory" in order to write just like any skill, art, or talent.

We cannot all be the next Stephen King or J. K. Rowling, but why not try, anyway? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Here is how I started writing. I have 4 books just sitting around, not completed. Why, you may ask, would I just keep trying if I am unable to finish what I've started? Well, since then I began reading instead of writing. I read and read

until I found a genre that I could not put down.

After I read about 40 books in that genre I began thinking "Cait, I'm smart enough to put words on paper. Why can't I write this kind of story?"

Low and behold! I've completed eight books on that genre. It is easier to write what you like. I currently like Medieval Scottish Highlanders, and so my stories are about that.

The first two books I wrote were done differently than the rest. I wrote the climax first. The part of the book that is the highlight action/adventure/revelation part of the book, then I built my story around that. Of course, once I got back to the climax, it required some touch-ups, but it made the process easier. I had discovered that I was not finishing my books because I had no idea where I was going with them.

Now, I just write. I develop my characters as they come up and have Excel spreadsheets to remind me of each character, their scents, appearances, quirks, and back-story. Each book is done that way.

So, my "in a nutshell" advice to you is to read what you want to write about, find out how others do it and then do it yourself. Don't give up, or you'll never know, will you?