Conquering a Blank Screen or Page
Published: Apr 20, 2004
Application
You must compose a simple memo, a sensitive letter, a work instruction, a report, a speech or an article for publication. You have been putting
this off because you haven't a clear idea how to start. This is OK if you've been gathering ideas. Most creative people do this lengthy
gestation of ideas. Now, you are staring at a blank screen or page, you're facing a deadline and you can't get started.
Uncle Max to the rescue
Select some or all of the following starting techniques. Use the ones with which you are most comfortable. On each occasion the one that works
best will depend on the topic, resource data, format, situation or your mood. The most common error is thinking you have to start writing at the beginning.
- Copy the relevant parts of a previous or similar document. Start with inserting key words or phrases, you can form sentences and
paragraphs later. Hopefully, the juices, fingers and ideas will start flowing. If not, struggle on with whatever energy you have.
- Make an outline. Leave spaces for inserting ideas as they pop into your head. Begin at any point of the outline. Jump around
to fill in spaces until all are filled. Edit for continuity. It's quite common to find the introduction is the last to be written.
- Write a paragraph. It could belong anywhere in your document. It may be the one for which you have been gestating most.
Start with phrases or a series of words which can be tied together into complete sentences once you are on a roll. Write another paragraph
which may or may not follow from the first one written.
- Write anything, relative to your topic or not, for a specified period of time. If you can only think of one phrase, continue
repeating the same phrase until another comes to mind. If this doesn't stimulate you to include something about your topic, take a break and
repeat the exercise again and again. You may have one phrase in mind which you know must be in your composition – start with that. There appears to
be a dichotomy in our thought processes where the act of writing is separate from the transcribing of thoughts to the writing activity. It
seems that stimulating the former will release the latter. Trust me on this. It is very effective for the toughest of cases.
- Tell someone what you plan to write. This activity is the reverse of No. 4 above. It appears the transcribing of the idea
to speech stimulates the writing action. As you speak the ideas begin to be formulated and flow together. As with most of our casual conversations,
they may be disjointed at first, so if you are not near your writing station be sure write some notes. These notes will form a starting point for when
you return to a more appropriate writing place. The sooner you do this – the better.
- Maintain a set of templates for your various recurring assignments. These templates can be created from some of your better
compositions. You will probably go to this effort if you are required to compose quite often and you often pull a blank just before a deadline.
The templates could be outlines with added features. Include different opening or closing paragraphs in one template. You could use the speaker's
formula of "Get in, get on and get out" with the "get on" portion having only three points. Another template could be the standard questionnaire
of, "Who, what, where, when, why and how?"
Stories
Stories from members will add great value to these maxims
Please post your story by emailing it to max@unclemaxsays.com, or by posting it in our
Virtual Partners Forum.
We look forward to having many samples from many contributors
Outcomes
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