How do I start writing and stop being scared?

free write

just get pen and paper, don’t think about it just let your mind wonder and write. It will open the block.

Stop and reread it and see what you think at the time. Youll know what it seems like.

If i were a young person, i would not attempt to write such a book, until i had experienced much more of life. maybe, this is what is holding you back?

You can try to collect some detail/data about what you want to write. After that just organize them as one good story with your mind.

Write about a character who is scared.

there should be a lot of people that will go over the book with you – get a great editor
ooh, get Jeruba to do it!

Why worry about it being realistic?

@dverhey HA! Well played.

I kinda wanna sparkle now

@Alchemist: after you have written it, you can have other people read it to critique its accuracy. I have actually felt the same way you have about my writing, by the way.

@DrBill is right. Start freewriting and get it all down. Then you can worry about realism. Do you have a plot line? Characters? You have to just begin. You’ll go through several drafts before you get anywhere near publication material.
Don’t worry about any of that while you’re writing. Write down everything you think of. Take as long as you like.
Just get started. You are what’s holding you back. Stay scared if you want to. That isn’t important, and it might even turn out to be part of your “voice”. You just have to write without worrying about how it will look. No one has to se it but you. Have some faith in yourself, take a deep breath, and….GO!

Begin. And write every day. You don’t know what your characters will do or where they will lead you. They might have different intentions than yours. Do not be afraid.

Write like no one else is going to read it but you. Make yourself happy with the results. Then see if it appeals to others. That’s the only way to do great work and be honest with yourself. And finally, do it!

Realistic depiction of what you see is a matter of your own perception. And you are the expert on that. If you’re not a journalist and not doing a sociological study, your task is precisely to convey what you perceive. That’s what makes it worth doing.

The first step to writing well is to be willing to write badly. Give it a shot.

Bite the bullet and write the sucker. Then revise it. Then revise the revision. Then pass it along to a beta. Discuss. Make changes. Revise the whole thing again. Run it past your betas again. If it’s good, you can stop revising.

I have felt that way too since I was a kid. I keep starting and then stopping. I guess you just do your best and try and write was makes you happy.

Just write it and get the first draft done. Then you can worry about the details.

@Alchemist, I think the advice “just do it” is good, but to be a little more specific about how to go about this—for me, it helps to have a ritual to begin the writing process. This puts you in the frame of mind where you’re less inclined to slack off or procrastinate.

My “ritual” is: I set aside some time to write, make a cup of nice coffee, and then sit down in a comfy chair or my bed with my nice headphones (to shield from distractions) and write for at least a couple of hours. I’m sure the physical effects of caffeine help, but it’s more than that—once you start doing this routine over and over again it’s easier to slip into the “writing mentality.”

If you have a laptop, you might also try going to a coffee shop (with headphones). Sometimes I find I write better at a coffee shop. I think it’s because there are people around who can “watch” me—which I would internalize as judging me if I slack off—but not people who will actually bother me and distract me.

@Nullo: whether writing benefits from revision depends a lot on the nature of what you write. I wouldn’t more than lightly rewrite autobiography and I tend to think that the more carefully planned the work in the first place, the more it benefits from a polish. if you set out to simply exhume something from your unconscious then rewriting can destroy what you set out to do.

also, you have to begin with something good in your head before you even start writing. what I mean by that “something good” I don’t know how to say.

@Ria777
By something good, you perhaps mean a good concept?
Revision isn’t just polishing. It’s fixing dents, filling in gaps, tying up loose ends, etc.