You’re watching the clock. The last minute before NaNoWriMo is ticking down. But you’re ready. You’ve planned it out. You know where your story begins and ends. You sort of know the middle. You’re in love with this story, and only twenty seconds are left before you get started.
Ten…nine…eight…
Your document is open.
Seven…six…
You take a last sip of water.
Five…four…
Your fingers hover over the keyboard.
Three…two…one.
BRAIN ERROR WHAT IS WRITING
You freeze. You can’t think of a sentence to write. You forget how writing even works and strongly consider becoming a hermit living off of old cans of tuna.
Take a deep breath. Relax. I’m here today to help you get past the “First Sentence Freeze” - or hopefully prevent it from happening in the first place.
First thing’s first: Don’t sweat it so much. You’re writing the first draft of your story. There will be plenty of time to edit and fix later. You don’t have to show it to anyone before you’re ready. Take a deep breath. Everything is going to be ok.
Second, don’t put so much stock in your first sentence (yet). Is it important to have a strong opening sentence? Yes. But it’s not important when you’re drafting your story. The draft is the clay that you will form the sculpture that is your story. Don’t worry about the details until you have all the material you need.
Third, jot down ideas for the beginning sentences and what you want to say or mean. This is the best solution I’ve found for getting around First Sentence Freeze. Have an idea of what the first scene is going to look like and where the reader comes into it. The more you know in advance, the easier it will be to get started.
Fourth, once you’re ready to start writing, just write down something. It can be a sentence you’ve had in your head for a long time. It could be a sentence that comes to you on the fly. You can even borrow a sentence from a prompter. But get it down so you can keep going.
Finally, if you really can’t think of anything and you’re getting worried about it, just skip it and come back to it later. For now to get you started, just drop us in the first scene and go from there.
If you have any questions or need help with starting your story, please feel free to drop me a message.
Good luck, my fellow Campers. Happy writing!
~Banette
