"Write what you know."Many of us who've taken writing classes have heard those famous words and they unfortunately have discouraged many from writing. When it comes to fiction, I would dare say that most of us haven't traveled through deep space, committed a murder, or been on a journey with hobbits and wizards. With this philosophy in place, there would seem to be a gaping hole in the heart of many stories. How do you write about what you don't know, what you haven't done?
All too often, writing teachers will teach this point too literally. "If you are a cop, write about being a cop. If you're a plumber, write about that," they say. I'm nearly 100% certain that Arthur C. Clarke never traveled through the solar system, or that Michael Connelly hasn't ever committed a heinous crime. So how do they write about these subjects?
"What you know" is the sum of all the parts, the totality of your experiences. Do you need to have traveled through deep space into the heart of luminous nebula in order to feel the wonder and awe associated with strange and natural beauty? I've experienced that in the canyons of the Southwest. Do you need to go to London or Tokyo to describe the excitement of visiting a large city that makes you feel small and overawed? I've felt that way wandering the streets of Chicago, or Seattle, or San Antonio. Do you need to be beaten and abused in order to know loathing, hatred and fear? Just ask me about the bullies I've dealt with in my life.
Our lives are the suml of the experiences that we've gone through. Robert Frost eloquently stated, "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader." We can draw on a lifetime of experience, from the reservoir of emotional reserve to fill out the lives of the characters in our fiction. I write what I know; connections and emotions I understand complete my characters and the situations they find themselves in.
While I started this blog to take you through my writing experiences (i.e., the processes), I feel that a fundamental part of the process is missing. In the last year (while I've failed to update this blog) I've visited incredible places, met amazing people, read phenomenal books, and had experiences that were both fantastic and "oh, Shit!" moments. Those things are "what I know." They draw out thoughts, ideas and emotions that regardless of what I write, will be distilled into my fiction. So this blog is evolving. I will still blog about the process (and do it more frequently), but incorporate those people, things, and places that give me ideas and the emotional foundations on which to build stories.
In other words, I'm filling the hole in the heart of this blog. I'm writing what I know.