How do I actually start writing when my brain is stuck? 🤔

[GeorgeM]

I've been staring at a blank screen for an hour. My coffee is cold, my cursor is blinking, and I have nothing. A blog from LSE suggests trying the "three core questions" method: write down three keywords from your readings, turn each into a question starting with 'what', 'why', or 'which', and then try to answer them . This strategy is supposed to fill up "one fourth of that white paper staring back at you." Has anyone tried this? Does it actually work when you're completely blocked?

 

[Nina]

I've tried that method. It worked for me once when I was blocked on an introduction. But here's what worked better: start in the middle.

Don't write the beginning. You don't know what you're introducing yet. Write the paragraph you're most confident about. Maybe that's a methods paragraph. Maybe it's a quote you want to analyze. Maybe it's literally just "I think the author means X because Y."

The three questions method assumes you have keywords. What if you don't even have that? Then just write the word "maybe" over and over. "Maybe this paper argues X. Maybe the evidence is Y. Maybe Z is a counterargument."

That becomes a messy outline. Then you clean it. Starting is the only hard part. Once you have any words, you can edit. Blank pages can't be edited. Put something there. Anything.