Never properly written anything...

Hello,

I've been wanting to start writing for awhile now, but maybe I am just scared... Why? I hear you ask... Well I'm really interested in Architecture for a future carrer so I think I am scared of losing that motivation to a writing one. Odd? Yes. Yes, I am.

I have an idea for a story, and I think it would be good. But I don't know how to start it. I've got bullet points for character building etc and I've written out what's going to happen in the story. Yet, I've written the start twice at different times in the story but with different characters, but I am not really liking either. They both seem to lack in something... But I am not sure what. The first one, I wrote a few weeks back before my exams, but the second, I stayed up last night and wrote it.

I love the characters I've built up within the bullet points, but I struggle to build them up in the actual story.

I would love for some ideas of tips on how to start writing! Thank you in advance

I wouldn't worry about losing motivation for archetecture too much. You've probably heard this a thousand times, but you're fifteen and you've got a lot of time to change what you want to do. Just because you go explore something new doesn't mean you have to leave the old behind. If you keep doing well in math, and keep drawing every once in a while, you should be well on your way for your archetecture path.

As for writing, only one thing matters: "Never, ever, ever, ever, ever give up." I think Winston Churchill said that. It's easy to make the mistake of looking too much for help and not trusting yourself enough to fix your own writing. You have all the tools, you just need to use them. The only way, I stress THE ONLY WAY, to learn how to write is to write. You sit there, and you look at it, and you think about it, until either you're so sick of trying to write you give up or something just hits you. That's why writing is such a difficult profession, even as a hobby. It's hard. It's probably harder for writers than for nonwriters, because they have such a drive for perfection. People don't realize when they choose to write a story that there is actual hard work involved. You just have to sit there and try again and again and again until it works. That's all there is to it. That's it. That's everything every stinking "How to Write" book will ever tell you. I guarantee you that, I've read quite a few of them.

*** I'm going to skip the lecture on how writing books = the devil and go to some maybe-actually-helpful stuff ***

Some techniques that have worked for me, though:

- Write down everything you find interesting. Keep a notebook on you at all times and jot funny things you hear and see and think down as they come.

- Try keeping "morning pages". Write (or draw) 3 pages, first thing every morning, no matter how you feel (stream of consciousness-- just about anything, a story, or little things in your life, or diary-style stuff/whining... whatever). I swear it works. I always feel so much more creative the rest of the day if I do them. If you don't get anything good out of them, at least it gets the bad stuff out of the way.

- Set yourself specific times to write. Even if it's just "hey, I'm going to focus on writing for x minutes", or you could be more structured and say, "I will write from x to y time tomorrow", it'll help block out procrastination and help you get something down on paper even if it's absolute shit.

Sorry if I may be a bit intense. For me, writing is a lifestyle, not an activity. My writing is my life, my life is my writing. That's not to say, though, that you should hole up in your room and ignore life-- exactly the opposite. The idea of writing is to capture life on paper, and to do that you need to experience life to the greatest (safe) extent you can. I once heard a wise man say that there are 3 things you should do every day to honor the life you have been given:

1. laugh
2. be moved to tears
3. think

(I would add spending time in nature, and with people. But I guess there's not always time for both...)

If you do these three things, you should have no lack of inspiration.

That's all I'm going to say tonight.

Goodnight, and best wishes!

Someone recently asked about where to start and I gave them some advice (as did other people) so see if this helps you any:http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/post570699.html?highlight=#570699

Next! How to write? I would suggest you do what works. You have the plot down, yes? So if you have an idea of how to write the last scene but not the first, then write the last scene first! Write what you can find the motivation to write, and worry about the hard bits later. Don't stress on the beginning, because you can work on it later. The story isn't going anywhere, after all. You might have a better idea of where to start once you've done the rest of it anyways. So break your bullet points into 'scenes' and do a different one.

Don't worry about losing motivation. It happens, but the writing is still fun so there will be no real loss in it. And you might come back to it if you do. So just enjoy! Now, if you really want to get it done, you might want to try 'NaNoWriMo' or JulNoWriMo. Both are basically this challenge where you write 50 000 words in one month. You don't have to, but if you tell yourself you'll do the first draft in one month, then you might manage to get a lot of it done. Don't worry about how perfect it is right away, it is only a draft. You can fix things that don't work later. Think of your first draft as the bones; the skin comes later.

Hope that answered your question.

^_^ Keek!

Thank you very much Trikky and Sleeping Valor, you've both helped a lot.

Any other ideas anyone ?

I think, like Sleeping Valor said, you should just write what comes to you. I personally find writing the beginning of a story to be much more difficult than the end, so I generally just scratch in some scene for the beginning, and, no matter how horrible I think it is, I keep writing, because I know that after I get past the beginning, everything gets easier. After all, you can always go back and edit the beginning! However, if you find that, even after you are past the beginning, and you still don't like what you're writing, maybe try to change it up a bit, or write something else that interests you. If you make the story into something you WANT to write, as opposed to something you feel you SHOULD write, it will be more fun. I tend to do that: I think of an idea for a story, think it'll be okay, but it really doesn't interest me, so I end up going nowhere with it. Write what feels good to you.

Also, if you end up loving your characters but not the story they're in, it's super easy to just transport them into a different story, until you find where they fit! I'm not saying to give up on your other story, because of course, you should keep trying it, but sometimes you just need to change it. So, write past the beginning, write what comes to you, write what you want, and most of all, just enjoy it! Writing will not make you lose your interest in architecture. It'll just give you a new hobby. You have plenty of time in your life to change your mind. Hope this helped!