Frustrated, no idea how to start

[RobPrescott]

I think Toby Frost and Venusian both gave great advice, but as just about everyone above stated, just write! It doesn't matter if it isn't great, it will help you develop your style, your characters and your way of revealing your world. Re-writes, either edits or total ground-up stuff, are where you get your final prose from. Anyone who says their first draft was perfect is either a liar or just unbearable talented.

I had an idea to pick out a few key character development moments that happened before the plot my project covers to write as practices to get the hang of writing what I'm doing now. It worked really well for me, though of course different things work for different people... differently... but it could be a good start point - like you I also had a lot of richly detailed backstory and world-buildey stuff - and it really helped get me into the head of my main character and, most importantly, give me a jumping off point into writing the damn thing!

 

[tinkerdan]

This is not a problem-it's a recognition of something vital.

My problem is I just don't think I can write very well. I think my dialogue is okay enough, but I can't describe a setting and I especially have a difficult time describing characters. I'm also clinically obsessive-compulsive, so I focus a lot on minor details when I probably should be more worried about just putting words on paper.

Unless they are an author of exception a debut novelist has to realize that the a lot of what they write at first will be bad, but you have to write it or you may never get past that stage. Putting it off will not make it better it will just put off the humiliation for later. You have to be ready to finish and then laugh your way through all the edits.