Getting Started

Getting started is the hardest part.  What can you

  do if you simply cannot get going?  Let's use a

  hypothetical example, shall we?  We'll see what

  we can come up with.

Let's assume that Mrs. Dragonflower has

  demanded a short story incorporating what we did

  in the summer holidays.  Relax! Assume that she wants fiction so that means that we can lie a little.

If you simply cannot come up with anything find a minor inconvience and magnify it slightly.  Now you have a problem worth mentioning.

Another thing that you can do is go to the library and take ten or so books off the shelf.  Read the first page only.  You should have no trouble deciding which stories are most compelling.  Examine the top contenders and try to determine just how the writer captured your attention.

Change the situation but try to use one or more of the hooks that the writer used.

Let's say that you manage to get down only three sentences.  Examine each sentence to see that it conforms to one of the primary principles of good writing. 

The most important phrase should be at the end of the sentence and not at the beginning.

If you do find that one of your sentences merits reversing the order of the phrases, do so and continue writing.