Story Cafe

Can I suggest you do your bio; it's very useful to people when they reply. The problem I have in reading your intro, is where to start. All the problems you listed, I recognise for myself, several years ago. You say you're not very articulated; that's a good place to start. If you have a part story; put it in your portfolio and ask for reviews. One of the things I like about this website is that you don't encounter a lot of intellectual snobbery. Believe it or not, doing reviews is a good way of learning to express yourself; but you run the risk of hostile reactions. There is no problem of starting a story in the middle; I do. A lot of the problem is finding your writing technique and building your confidence. Do you plan out your plot, or do you start with a little bit of a scene in the middle. All my early stories started like this and I found that I had to write this bit down and initially ignore the beginning and end. Then I went to the beginning and wrote the story so that it eventually met up with the bit in the middle. The sequence then proceeded towards the end. I don't plan my stories; I have a vague skeleton plot. When I start in the middle, I sit and try to visualise the scene as if it was on TV or movie. At some point a line of text or dialogue will jump into my head; I write it down. This will be followed by another line and another line etc. This kind of writing technique suits some people, but not all. You might find it spooky at first. If you haven't read it, try reading 'Man and His Symbols' by Carl Jung. This will help you understand what is going on. Five years of writing rubbish and I'm finding that I can now start a story at the beginning. Do you write it on paper before using a word processor? Assuming you have access to a computer; try working directly into the word processor. Don't panic if you sit staring at the screen; learn to relax and the story will come to you one line at a time.
Good luck.
jim