From Gary Bencivenga’s Marketing Bullets:
I learned that good copywriters get to know so much about the product and the prospect and his or her wants, fears, assumptions, and lingo that the copy soon wants to burst forth as if a dam is breaking. I learned that research is the infallible cure for writer’s block.
Having something to say is the best way to start writing. If you do the research to give yourself all the background information you would soon have a lot to say about all you have found even if you thought you had very little to say when you started. This works for any kind of writing, interviews and fiction writing included.
With fiction writing you could give yourself a whole storyboard as your research. Create the plot, the people and the actions that string them together.