Tips on Getting Started?

[Rozume]

I have no problems outlining and planning and doing a bunch of other pre-writing; however, when I get to the actual drafting part, the words are not flowing out.

Perhaps the main problem it's just me getting stuck on the first sentence/paragraph because I want to have a strong start - I can't seem to get it in my mind that I'm making a first draft, which is supposed to suck, and not a final one.

Do you guys have any tips on getting started on that first draft?

[trooper6]

I gave some these tips in the writer's cramp thread, but...

1) Don't start at the beginning. Start in the middle...or any part that is vivid in your mind.
2) you are stopping yourself because you think you need to be perfect. When you don't so reframe...this is just a draft that can be really bad...you will edit later. So, do not edit in this first draft! Just write. For me, psychologically, the way to get into this mindset is to write the first draft on paper reather than on the computer...then do my edits as I put the work into the computer.

[Mad Harlequin]

For now, just write. Get something on paper. It can be in any order you want. You can make notes in the margins.

Don't be afraid of writing something that may sound ridiculous later. You can always change it. If you don't let yourself create, you'll have nothing to turn into a final draft.

I know it can be difficult sometimes. I struggle with it too. But don't give up!

[Rozume]

@Trooper 6, @MadHarlequin

Thanks for the advice! I'll go through the Writer's Cramp thread and see which ones works for me. ^^

And yeah, I am trying too hard to get it to be "perfect" xD I realize I just need to allow myself to write crap.

[Mad Harlequin]

You may also find that writing down completely unrelated thoughts can help. You can even write about how you feel you can't write. I've done that.

[trooper6]

I always struggle with perfectionism. And I'm dealing mainly with my professional academic writing...where I have to send it off to journal reviewers who can often be brutal in their feedback. And if you don't get published, you don't get tenure. Not getting tenure means losing your job. And even if you do publish, if what you publish is thought to be crap, then again you may not get tenure.

So there is a lot of pressure. And that pressure can easily result in freezing up and not writing anything...or in my case, writing the thing...and then editing over and over and never sending out the manuscript. None of these things will result in me getting articles (or my book) done and published. Self sabotage.

So I try always try to remember these quips my thesis advisor told me...that was told to him by his advisor...who knows how long it goes back...

"The forum spam is not your last word on a topic, but your first word."
(In VN land, that means that your first VN doesn't have to be the best VN you've ever made...indeed, how depressing would that be if you never got any better than you are right at this minute? Accept that the VN you make now will be less good than the one you make next. But you can't make the next one until you finish this one.)
"The point is not to do it well, the point is but to do it schnell."
(Schnell means fast in German. This is about the forum spam, but applies to anyone who holds on to things too long. The point here is to just write and stop holding on to it forever...like I do. Get it out! I suppose this is the value of game jams--it forces you to just get it out.)
"The best forum spam is a done forum spam."
(If you freeze up because you feel like you have to be perfect, remember, it never can be anything if you don't do it at all.)

Anyway, I have to get back to finalizing my syllabi so that I can get back to working on my tenure book, so I can get back to my VN (and not get fired).