How to Start Writing: A Guide for Indian College Students

Have you ever read a story, an article, or a book and felt absolutely mesmerized?

Think back to that time. Try to remember that feeling once again.

I know it’s difficult to explain in words, but you probably felt like this particular piece truly moved you. It made you wish that you could write even half as well as the author.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could actually write like that too?

Let me tell you a secret.

You can.

But there’s a catch.

person writing on paper using yellow and black pen

You’ve got to stop fantasizing about writing well and actually start writing.

Sounds ridiculously simple, right?

It is.

You’ve got to come out of your dream world and actually take the first step on your journey as a writer.

If you are a college student in India, there’s a high chance that you’ve sacrificed the last few years of your high school and sold your soul to the devil in exchange for a good rank in a competitive entrance exam.

Whether you gave your blood, sweat, or tears to crack the JEE, the NEET, or any other exam, the story is quite similar for many students.

You had to sacrifice fun times, your friends, and your hobbies all for the promise of a better future.

Your parents and teachers all drilled the concept of “if you work hard for just a few years, your life will be set” into your brains.

tired black man lying on opened book and homework papers

Even after that arduous journey, some of you got into the college you wanted, and some of you didn’t.

However, during that journey, something terrible happened.

You forgot who you are.

Because of your obsession with cracking an exam and getting a good branch in a good college, you lost track of who you wanted to be.

Maybe you once dreamt of exploring writing and becoming a great writer, but then these entrance exams swallowed your life and put everything else on hold.

Why am telling you all this?

Well, it’s because I want you to realize that it’s still not too late to start something new or to rekindle your old interests and hobbies.

That’s why I made this guide for you.

So, read on to find out how you can start writing (or continue from where you once left off).

What is writing?

Writing may sound pretty difficult to you, packed with heavy vocabulary words, complicated writing styles, and perfect sentences.

Forget all that for a moment and read these next few lines with a clear head.

Writing is nothing but the expression of thoughts.

Read that again.

At its essence, that’s what it really is.

When you write, all you’re doing is taking a jumbled mess of ideas from your head and putting them down on a piece of paper (or a computer screen).

All you’re doing is converting the vague ideas in your head into a structured form that can be read and understood by others.

Good writing isn’t about who can use the most Shashi Tharoor-like vocabulary words; it’s about how you express ideas or emotions in simple words.

In this guide, I will be talking about starting writing for complete beginners.

I won’t go into too much detail about how to write different types of content, but rather will help you in actually getting started with writing anything of your choice, whether it’s poems, stories, articles, blog posts, journal entries, or editorials.

Why should you start writing?

You may be wondering whether writing is worth it.

Is it worth all the effort, the editing, the frustration?

Absolutely.

It is absolutely worth it because no matter what you’re writing, you are expressing yourself and your ideas.

You can be the smartest and most knowledgeable person on the planet, but if you can’t express your ideas and knowledge to others in a clear, simple, and effective manner, they’re absolutely useless.

Great ideas are worthless if they just sit in your head for all of eternity.

That’s why you need to learn how to write effectively and communicate your thoughts.

Sure, you could start a podcast and babble on for hours about what you’re thinking.

But sometimes, a 1-page piece of writing can be more effective than an hour-long podcast episode.

When you write down what you’re thinking, you understand your own thoughts and ideas more clearly, and so do others.

Okay, so if you’ve understood why writing is so necessary for you, you’re ready now.

Let’s get into the good stuff.

How should you start?

Step 1: Get rid of the mental roadblocks

Do you know what the biggest roadblock in writing is?

It’s you.

Not just you, but your fear.

The fear of judgement that you’re constantly carrying around on your back.

You are so paralyzed by the fear of what other people will think if you express your ideas or views that you never express them in the first place.

Think about this for a moment.

You want to write. You decide to actually start writing. You write your first piece and then publish it on social media.

20 people read your piece.

10 people just think “meh, it was okay” and then move on with their lives.

7 people absolutely love your piece, but they don’t say anything to you.

1 person loves your piece and sends you a heartwarming text telling you how much they enjoyed reading your work.

But then you get 2 nasty comments about how shitty your work was. You feel devastated after reading them and delete your post, vowing to never write again.

Do you see how ridiculous this situation is?

Because of a few mean people who have nothing better going on in their lives and are constantly seeking to spread hate and negativity, you’re going to just not do what you always wanted to?

You’ll stop writing because of 2 people when these 8 people absolutely loved your work and want to see more of it?

If not for the people who like reading your work, don’t you think you should keep trying for yourself?

The answer is a huge YES.

You can’t let criticism stop you in your tracks and just give up on writing and sharing your work.

Instead, accept the fact that honest criticism is a necessary part of the writing process.

If everyone always just lies to your face and says that your written piece is perfect, how will you ever improve?

Remember that every single writer out there started somewhere. They all started with one word.

Then they wrote the next one, and the next one, and so on.

Just because you don’t have enough experience or practice right now, you shouldn’t avoid even starting to write.

You have to start somewhere.

Step 2: Sit down with a blank page

Right after you finish reading this guide, I want you to open a new Microsoft Word or Google Docs page on your computer and sit down.

If you’re more old-fashioned, then grab an empty piece of paper, your favourite pen, and sit down somewhere comfortably.

Okay, you’re sitting with a blank page in front of you and a blank mind.

That empty page is not your enemy. It’s your best friend.

Why, you ask?

Because, at this moment, there are an infinite number of possible thoughts that you could fill that page with. You are in control here.

Now, start thinking.

The biggest problem that people have when they write is figuring out “what do I write about?”.

So, first, brainstorm ideas.

Stop thinking that you need to write an entire New York Times best-selling novel here.

Start small. Start simple. And jot down your ideas in the form of bullet points as soon as they pop into your head.

Think about an interesting, happy, or funny experience or an incident that recently happened in your life. It could be something that happened to you, to a friend, to a family member, anything. Note that idea down. You can narrate this story. Humans connect with stories and you can tell one too. Pretend you’re telling the story to a friend, but on paper.

Think about a piece of news, an article, a post, a trend, a Reel, a YouTube video, or anything interesting that you came across recently on the Internet that caught your attention. Note it down. You can write an article or even just an opinion piece about it. Write about what this particular thing made you feel or think.

Think about any movie, TV show, documentary, or web series you watched recently or even in the past. Think about any book you’ve read so far. Think about any video game you’ve played so far. Think about any product you ordered recently from Amazon or Flipkart that you loved. You can write a review about any of these. You can talk about what aspects of it you liked or disliked and why. Explain to the reader why they should consume this piece of content you’re recommending and why it’s so great.

Think about any incident or experience that made you feel strong emotions recently or in the past. You can write a poem about this.

Think about yourself. Write a journal or diary entry about anything you want. You don’t have to show it to anyone. Just describe your thoughts and feelings about something on paper.

Bonus Tip: Look up writing prompts on Google or on social media and just start writing based on the prompt.
https://www.instagram.com/writing.prompt.s/ is a great place to start. It has plenty of amazing story ideas that will get your creative juices flowing!

Step 3: Choose the best idea

Take a look at your once-empty page now.

There are so many ideas on it.

Now, all you need to do is choose your favourite one.

Here are the numerous options you have to write (feel free to add to this list):

An article about any topic
An anecdote or story from your life
An anecdote or story from a friend or family member’s life
A completely random fictional story about anything
A poem about any topic or feeling
An opinion piece about any issue expressing your own views
A diary or journal entry talking about your thoughts and feelings
A review about any book, movie, TV show, web series, documentary, video game, or even a product you bought

When you go down the list of bullet point ideas that you have, a few will definitely seem more interesting or doable than the others at the moment. You can always work on another idea later.

For now, pick just one.

Take a sip of water.

Take a deep breath.

And begin.

Step 4: Start writing the 1st draft

You have two options here.

First, you can think about the topic or idea you’ve just chosen and jot down whatever new ideas come to mind. If you want, you can also create a brief outline of points that you want to cover in your piece. This will be especially helpful if you are writing an article or an opinion piece.
The other option (my favourite) is to just let the ideas flow. It’s okay if you don’t have a title for your piece right now. You can always think of one later, after you’ve finished writing the piece.

Whether you’re writing a poem, article, story, or opinion piece, remember that you are only supposed to be writing right now.

Don’t judge yourself thinking that the first line is shitty and definitely don’t try to change it on the spot.

For now, just write whatever comes to mind.

You can always edit and change whatever you want after you’re done with your first draft.

Remember, you are in control here.

For writing poetry, just let out whatever thoughts and emotions you’re feeling. It’s okay if your lines don’t rhyme. It’s okay if you don’t use complicated poetic devices and write like Shakespeare.

For writing articles, try to start with something interesting that hooks the reader’s attention. It could be an anecdote or story from your life or someone else’s, an analogy, a mind-boggling statistic or fact, or even an interesting quote from a famous person.

For writing stories, just go with the flow and let your imagination run wild. Don’t worry about word limits and about writing too much or too little. Try to have a good introduction where you introduce the characters, the setting, give background information if needed, and then proceed to bring conflicts and problems into the story.

No matter how bad you think your first draft is, you need to just keep going and finish it.

There is not a single writer in this world whose first draft is perfect, and that’s 100% normal and acceptable.

Everyone needs to go back and make revisions, edits, and changes.

So why do you expect yours to be perfect?

Step 5: Edit your piece

Congratulations!

You’re finally done with your first draft!

But wait, don’t try to edit it right after you’re done writing.

Take a break.

Go for a walk, watch a movie, talk to a friend, do anything you want.

Come back to your written piece with a fresh mind and read the whole thing once as if you’re reading it for the first time.

There will be certain points in the piece that you think you could make better.

Go on. Make whatever changes you feel are necessary and read your piece multiple times.

Step 6: Get feedback

Now that you’ve finished writing and editing your piece, you have two options:

You could revel in the satisfaction of writing your first piece and just let it end there. You don’t share it with anyone or publish it anywhere. This is perfectly fine if you are not comfortable sharing your work yet. However, it does have its drawbacks. If you don’t share your work with anyone, you’ll never get feedback. And if you don’t get any feedback, how will you improve?
The better option (definitely my favourite) is to share your piece. You can send the piece to a friend or family member over text. All it takes is a simple message: “Hey, I tried writing something. Could you please read through it and let me know what you think and what I can improve? Thanks!” See, it’s not that hard. Or, if you are comfortable, you can share it on any of your social media accounts, whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Medium, or LinkedIn.

If you want, you can also easily create your own blog for free on websites like Wix, WordPress.com, Weebly, Ghost, or Blogger.

Remember that you will only get valuable feedback and suggestions for improvements when you put your work out there and show it to multiple people.

Multiple people will give you their opinions and thoughts about your work, all from different perspectives.

Don’t be upset by criticism. Without it, you cannot improve your writing skills.

Based on feedback and criticism from multiple sources, you can then go back and edit your piece accordingly, making it even better.

Step 7: Consume more content

Alright, now that you’ve written your first piece of writing, it’s time to think about what you can do to make your writing better.

Think about it like this.

Writing is the expression of thoughts and ideas.

And to keep getting new and interesting thoughts and ideas, you need to be exposed to new things.

You get that exposure by consuming different kinds of content.

The most important thing for a writer is to write.

The second most important thing is to consume high-quality content by reading, watching, or listening.

If you want to become a better writer, you must start reading more new things.

Read about any topic that interests you, whether it’s articles on the Internet, books, novels, poetry, newspapers, or magazines.

If you are the kind of person who doesn’t like to read at any cost, start listening to audiobooks and podcasts about anything you find interesting.

Watch videos, documentaries, movies, TV shows, and web series about whatever you find interesting.

When you feed knowledge to the brain and enrich it with new content, you will have more to talk about in your writing.

You will have something to say.

Conclusion

If you’ve read this far, I’m sure you got some valuable insights and advice from this guide.

We talked about what writing really is and why you should start writing. Frankly, there’s already a writer in everyone.

People are just hesitant to start and put themselves out there, fearful of judgement and criticism. After reading this guide, I know you’ll not be one of those people.

I know that you will go out there and begin your journey and keep getting better as a writer and as a person.

Whenever you need to, come back to this guide and re-read the advice here.

Get rid of your mental roadblocks, sit down with a blank page and come up with ideas, and pick one.

Just go for it. Write, edit, re-write, re-edit, and write some more. That’s what it’s all about.

Jot down ideas on your phone’s Notes app or on a little scrapbook whenever they pop into your head to use later on.

Enjoy the process of writing and improving your pieces.

Enjoy the process of consuming new content and including it in your writing.

Because at the end of the day, your set of experiences and thoughts is unique.

You are not ordinary.

The world needs to hear what you have to say.

So go ahead, pick up the mic, I mean pen, and start writing.