Comments on: Write About What You Know

By: EmJay

EmJay — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:30:00 +0000

I have been wanting to write something that I dont know but I still cant write. please advise

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:45:11 +0000

Good comments. I should point out that, actually, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien did write about what they knew. That doesn't mean they had experienced everything their characters had. It does mean that when Lewis wrote about university professors in his Space Trilogy, it had a ring of authenticity because he was a university professor. When Lewis quoted from fictitious medieval literature in That Hideous Strength, it sounded real because he taught medieval literature. Tolkien invented believable languages in The Lord of the Rings, and how? Because he was a well-known expert in languages. Are you stirred by their battle scenes? Both men were veterans of World War I. More importantly, both writers knew love and loss, triumph and defeat. It's interesting that Susabelle implies she wrote romance stories before she knew what love was. That's what I'm warning against. Don't think that your own experience isn't worth writing about, and don't think that you can write anything worth reading without drawing from it. Don't think that you need to discard your own unique voice to be a writer. You have no other voice.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:39:59 +0000

The advantage you have of writing what you know is to bring to the table the nuances of the subject. I work in a vet clinic. I have perspectives of working there that may not be obvious to clients, but if I write of it, will give my work credibility of writing about a subject that I understand.

By: Susabelle

Susabelle — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:28:03 +0000

Excellent post. As a participant in NANOWRIMO I can’t count how many posts I’ve seen on the romance forum that involve “how do I write about a kiss when I’ve never had one” and how do I write about love when I’ve never been in love.”

The truth is, you can’t. You can make it up, or copy it from someone else’s description, but until you’ve been kissed, or been in love, you don’t know what those things feel like.

I was once one of those young writers. I have the horrifying short romance stories in long-hand to prove it.

I am always writing what I know, for the most part. I may do research and learn about a situation or job or whatnot, but the true core of the story is something I understand because I’ve been there before.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:12:29 +0000

This is very good advice, but I still refuse to accept the use of ‘journal’ as a verb.

How then does one get into the process of writing fantasy? Certainly Tolkein and Lewis could not have literally known Middle Earth or Narnia before they set out to create them. They, however, produced some of the greatest works of fiction in the twentieth century.

As a writer, albeit an American teenage writer, I would much rather emulate them than S.E. Hinton. Won’t my unique voice color any fiction I would write? Must I be self-referential and presumptuously autobiographical to get published?