Every story begins the same way: with a blank page.

Getting the story out of your head and onto the page is often the hardest part. It took me a long time to accept that I didn’t need every sentence to be perfect before moving on. In fact, trying to make every paragraph flawless usually meant I wasn’t making any progress at all.

Writers generally fall into two camps: plotters and pantsers.

Plotters map out their stories before writing, creating outlines that describe what happens in each act, chapter, and sometimes even each scene.

Pantsers—those who write “by the seat of their pants”—prefer to start with an idea and discover the story as they go.