The Writer's Nightmare: Conquering a Blank Page

    The worst part about starting a story is facing the blank, white page. Whether you're writing by hand or typing on a computer, getting those first few words on that paper is the most daunting task. If you've ever had to write an essay for a class that you didn't quite prepare for, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

    My best suggestion for overcoming this burden is to just start writing. I know that sounds kind of obvious, but if you just vomit something onto the page, it makes continuing much easier. It doesn't really matter what you write, whether its something from the middle of the story, the end of the story, or if it's actually the beginning, as long as you start putting words on the paper, that blank page will quickly disappear. This is where your outline can begin to help you.

    If you're truly stumped and don't know how to start, look at your outline. Write out what you want to happen in that scene as objectively as possible. Then you can go back, fill in the details and make it interesting. Even if you don't like what comes out of this tactic, don't fret because now your page is no longer blank. You can always come back later to fix things if need be. That's why its called a first draft.

    The most important thing when conquering this task is to write what you want to write. Do whatever you need to do to get your creative juices flowing, even if it doesn't quite pertain to your book. In past experiences, if I get myself into a certain groove, blank pages become light work. Sometimes you might surprise yourself and write something you never expected that actually works really well with your story,

The book I'm currently writing is inspired by a short story I had written for a class. The theme of that story was very dark and brooding, and it often made references to a brighter happier time. So, when starting my new, extended version of the story, I already knew that I needed to write about the happier times I'd referenced in the original. The first scene was a foil of the scene I'd written for class. It was very easy to conquer this blank page because I already had that plan. 

The most important thing to remember about a blank page is that they're not going to be there forever. If you can just look ahead to where you want to be and imagine the steps you took to get there, writing your way to that end goal will become as easy as pie.