The Fear of Starting

How To Get Words On The Page When You’re Afraid To Start

There was a period of time in my life when I couldn’t open a blank word document without feeling my heart race and my palms sweat. It was like I was paralyzed by some invisible force. I would put a few words on the page, each sounding worse than the other, until I couldn’t take it anymore and closed the window. Even worse than that feeling? The guilt that comes after. Those thoughts that hound you about how much of a failure you are for not getting far in your story. It’s awful and it can lead to a self-defeatist attitude if not addressed. So how do you overcome the fear of starting?

Find Out What’s Causing It

Most of the time there is something causing your fear of starting. It might help to write out what your fears are. Once you look at your thoughts outside of yourself, you will be able to assess and recognize that some of them are just distortions or unrealistic expectations of yourself. Once you know what is causing your fear you can take steps to address it.

Write Something Else

Sometimes when I couldn’t bring myself to put words on the page for my story, I opened another word document and typed out my thoughts and feelings about starting. Before I knew it, I’d written 2-3 pages worth of words. And there you have it: you put words on the page. Try to write your thoughts about your story, a journal entry of your day, or free write whatever is on your mind. The goal is to relieve some of the pressure of starting on a project you care about.

Write Little By Little

Often before we start writing a story, we focus too much on the end result and not on the process. Like building a wall, it takes laying a brick at a time. Allow yourself to write three sentences. Just three. Do this every day and before you know it, by the end of the week, you’d have written have four paragraphs, which is more than you would have written if you hadn’t started at all.

Bottom Line: Give Yourself Permission to Suck

Usually the biggest culprit to our fear is perfectionism. What’s happening is that you are judging yourself and your writing unfairly, even before you start. To paraphrase a quote I saw on the internet the other day, “saying your writing is trash in the drafting stages is like looking at eggs and flour and saying ‘my cake taste bad'”. In other words, it’s unfair to judge something when it’s incomplete. Remind yourself that the start of anything is usually going to be rough, awkward and bad, and that’s okay! You will have time to fix it. So, give yourself permission to be bad. The real work starts in the editing and revision phases.

For more information on how to overcome your fear of starting, check out my post: How I Overcame Writer’s Block.

Have you been struggling to get words on the page? Tell me about it in the comments!

Hi! Shantal here. I’m a writer and a storyteller. I created Shantal Writes to share my experiences with writing fiction. I also provide new writers with tips, tools, and writing advice. I hope you find something helpful while you’re here!