Fiction writing: How do you start off writing a short story or novel?

Every story and situation will be different, but generally the author should know the ending of the story and the general flow before beginning to write the initial draft. An ideal word count would also suffice as this will help develop the overall structure of the story and it is problematic when a story has not sufficiently been developed.

I usually write some keywords about the plot before I start writing the story. When I get an idea I prefer to write it down straight away so that I don't forget about it. Sometimes I am not in the mood to write the story when I get an idea or sometimes I don't have time to write it, and I am always afraid that I will forget my ideas if I don't write them down. Sometimes I also write a few keywords about the characters, but that depends on the story. Sometimes I prefer to write the story and let the character develop little by little.

I tried to write a book once, but it actually started to look more like a movie script. I finally just gave up on it.

I just start writing. If I am sitting down thinking about every detail of the book, its not gonna turn out right for me.. If I just think of a name, and an idea of what I want to happen, and start typing, it comes together much easier. But thats for me. It's different for everyone.

For me, most of the time it starts with a unique scene that I've painted in my mind. Then, a plot is developed, establishing the background of the story to the very end. Most of the time my challenge is how to put that into words. I suddenly get tired of the whole idea of writing because I'm sure it would take a while before I finish the whole story.

I get a particular thought in my head that I deem original, and i take note of it. And everything goes on from that point. I'm not really a very good writer. But i do get good ideas from time to time that I would like to make into a worthy book someday.

It usually starts with an idea that I can't get out of my head. I've never sat down and said to myself, "Hey! I want to write a book today. I'm going to decide what the plot is first." It starts as an idea that won't leave me alone... so I wind up sitting down and writing it down. I might have some idea of how the characters act, or what direction the story is going to go in based on that one little idea... but most of the fleshing out comes after I've stopped to think about it and then when I'm actually writing it.

I like to decide on a plot before all else. Something original, something that hasn't been done before. Next I like to pick the style of writing, that will best suit the way I want to write the story. 1st person, 2nd or 3rd. For me, it's either 1st or 3rd, I'm not particular good at second lol. When choosing characters, I pick a name, but I also like to pick a nickname for them as well which can be given to them by other characters.