Write 300 words on why you can't write even one scene
If you're having difficulty starting to write, why not try drawing instead. Even a simple stick man doodle! Maybe sketch a map of your character's world, sketch their house. Write your hero's name and keep on going, like this: Bob.... Bob stood on one foot and then the other and finally he fell over.
Then keep on writing. This has two benefits. One, it gets the words moving and two, it gets you past the notion that every word you put down is precious. You have to learn to toss out pages and pages of your writing. As you write, you're working towards the freedom of tossing that first page.
Why not use a character design sheet? It can be a great way to get to know your character and start your novel. Try using the example on the Character Sketching page.
Write the plot out on a piece of paper first, then build scenes around it. Only a few people can write without a plot in mind successfully
When you take a break from your writing, always stop in the middle of a sentence - that way when you come back to it, you'll be able to get right back into the flow of what you were doing before, as opposed to starting a new scene. I do this all the time and it really works.
If you have some plots or ideas for stories hanging around and don't know what to do with them here's an idea - develop some characters, drop each of them into the same role (i.e. you'll be writing a different story for each character) and let their personality decide which way they go. You can then see how different characters can drive a plot forward.
Writers' Tennis!
You'll need two people for this one. One of you writes a few paragraphs of a story. It can be about anything. You then pass it on to your writing partner (email is perfect for this) who then writes the next paragraph and so on and so on. If you both try to keep the two parts of the story consistent you can achieve interesting results.
If you think your descriptive writing may be getting repetitive or you have difficulty describing, then remember this - when someone reads your story, they will be forming their own personal picture of how your world will look in their own head. Maybe you only need to give them enough raw data to let their imagination get going. Try it, you may find that your writing flows better as well.
If you're writing action / fight / battle scenes and are having trouble describing the scenes a good starting point is to watch a movie with some good fighting scenes in and then go away and describe what you've just seen. (Gladiator is an excellent example of historical one-on-one and mass combat battles.)
