Ever get writer's block? Everyone gets stuck as a writer at some point. Even Shakespeare must have occasionally thought 'What next?' Getting started on a new text is one of the most common sticking points for everyone.
How can you get yourself unstuck? Here are some suggestions for those moments when you are facing a blank sheet of paper or an empty screen:
1. Don't start with sentence number one!
You can waste a lot of time trying to think of a good opening sentence or a subject line. Don't! You may be lucky. The first sentence of your letter or memo may pop into your head as soon as you start writing. But this is unlikely, even on a good day. It is best to free your mind from the need to write sentences, especially the first one.
2. Think Keywords
Instead of writing sentences, write down the keywords that must be included in the communication. These may be content words ('feedback', 'web-based training') or they may be verbs ('propose', 'request', 'invite') or they may even be facts or statistics. If you have a brief from a supervisor, notes from a meeting or even an earlier memo, identify the keywords from these texts. Go from reading to writing.
3. See the Whole
Take a visual outline (like the inverted pyramid) and plan what each section of the text will be about and what function it will have. Use your keywords. Try to visualise your text in three or four sections. Think about how the text will unfold, eg. 'big news' > supporting details and background > action request.
Think about the uptake of the text - what is it leading to? what do you hope to achieve? what is going to happen next? You may have more than three or four paragraphs when you actually write the text; but your outline is a start.
Be playful. Use diagrams and pictures if they help you. Consulting with someone else may also focus your mind on the essentials.
4. Add Details
Expand your outline by adding supporting details that readers will need. Picture your readers, anticipate their questions. Again, focus on words and not sentences. You may realise that one section of your text needs two paragraphs rather then one, or that a piece of information needs to be moved down or up. You may also realise that you need to do some research or you need to consult a colleague.
Your keywords may change. You may find that a certain piece of information needs to be tucked away in the text, made less important, or even deleted.
Keep your thinking fluid. Remember: everything you write at this stage can be changed. Don't imagine yourself writing in an exam room!
5. Focus each Paragraph
Decide now how many paragraphs you are going to use for your first draft. Write one 'topic statement' for each paragraph. This is a summary of the paragraph - what it is about and its purpose. This statement can be a long phrase, connecting the keywords, or - if you are lucky - a full sentence.
6. Go on - Write a Sentence!
Now you should be ready to try some sentences. At this stage, keep them short and to the point. You can connect sentences together when you revise. Imagine that you are talking to your reader. Free write, without worrying too much about the grammar and spelling. You can improve these later. Don't feel that you have to write sentence number one first. You might find it easier to write the last sentence first. Often a good opening sentence only comes after we have done a lot of thinking.
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Writing is Re-writing
If you are writing something that is not part of your everyday routine and you are blocked, remember 'the water cooler rule': get something down on paper or screen, have a short break, go to the water cooler, and then come back to your writing. It may look different after a break as you switch into the role of reader rather than writer.Write to re-write. The less anxiety you feel about getting started, the better your writing will be. Once you have made a start, it will be easier. Revising may be the time when your ideas will really start to flow.
If you are working closely with a colleague, it helps for one person to do a rough draft and then you consult together on how to improve it. It is also a good idea when you write to have earlier texts (from the archive, or just good examples) in front of you when you write.
*If English is your second or third language, you may find it easier to do early drafting in your own language and then translate the keywords. However, translating a whole text into English is much more difficult. Writing well in English - or any language - means learning to think in the language, not translate. That is why it is useful to re-use phrases that you know have already been successful, and then build on them.
