Last week on the blog we had a great discussion about craft vs. story, and one of the things I mentioned was that I really want to see stories written with truth, authenticity and heart. This is another way of saying that old refrain, "Write what you know."
Most people think "write what you know" means you have to put characters in situations you're personally familiar with. If you're a mom with five kids, you should write a mom story. If you've fought cancer and won, you should write about that. But in my opinion, that's not what it means.
Write what you know means write with authenticity about thoughts, feelings, experiences of life. Be honest. Write from a deep place. Don't write from the surface. Whether you're writing about parenthood or cancer or anything else... be real.
Don't reflect what you know from other people or the media... write what you know from your own inner life.
This is what I was talking about in the craft vs. story post. Craft can come from your head, but a great story comes from a different place. Some might say the heart. I say, wherever you find the most "real" part of you.
You can take your characters into all kinds of worlds, real or imaginary. You can write about all different kinds of people, families, relationships, occupations, whatever you want. Maybe you haven't personally experienced any of those, so some might say you don't "know" them. But when you write what YOU know to be true in terms of real motivations, real conflicts, real depth, real emotions... you are writing what you know, and you will connect with readers. Your story will feel authentic.
So, write what YOU know. This is where your originality and uniqueness will come from. Your experience of life is different from anyone else's.
And, write what you KNOW. Not what you think, or what you've heard. Write what your gut tells you is the truth.
Write what you know.
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Oooo.
Cool thoughts - thanks for the tips! :)
What if you're not sure what your gut is telling you?
What if all you've written about since you were a little girl was love?
You and your writing muse were on fire. You couldn't get the words down fast enough.
You showed a couple people you're work (who mumbled that it was "cute"), life became a bit more hectic with kids and a husband and just like that, you wake up one day and nothing.
You can't understand it.
Try as you might the words won't come and somewhere deep inside you become terrified of that blank page and so you stop writing....for 5 years.
In those 5 years, you feel the urge to write, it's in every breath you take, every motion you make, you feel that need getting stronger and stronger.
But, you're afraid to begin and you think that the need to write about love has passed, so what can you write about now?
Children's books, perhaps? They're fun and you can let your imagination run wild, right? Or perhaps, a personal essay, a mystery, something...
What if your confusion on what your gut is telling you to do has become so huge that you're unsure of everything?
It feels like your paralyzed in one spot. You know you have it in you. You've always known.
Do you turn around and start back at writing about love? Or has it been too long? Should you simply give up writing altogether, even if you're gut is telling you not to?
I am constantly amazed at how closely related writing and acting are. In theatre, they always taught us how to go back and dredge up the emotions of the past - whether you wanted to or not. I love that as long as you can get yourself (in your memory) to a place where you can feel that pang of jealousy or that sweeping romantic love once again, you can find the authenticity in the emotion.
What great advice.
Hope you're having fun at the hot, hot show! :)
That place deep within us is also the place to which God speaks. If we write from what we know, and if we seek first to know God, His Spirit can infuse our writing with power we don't otherwise hold.
May I suggest to Anonymous 3:37 am -- seek what God is telling you. In the stillness and turmoil of not writing, listen for His voice.
Thanks to both Rachelle and Ann l.b. Right on target. Prior to this post and comment, I'd never felt the phrase, "write what you know," was adequately defined.
Thanks for bringing clarity to this issue.
Blessings,
Susan J. Reinhardt
Rachelle, thanks for expanding my understanding of what "write what you know" means. So helpful -- and challenging. Thanks!
I guess a book about a guy sitting in a cubicle for 8 hours a day would be kinda boring, huh? :)
I don't know, mark h, the writers of the movie "Office Space" sure did some funny stuff with a guy exposed to too much cubicle time.
So, how I see it is that the "writing what you know" is more like "writing what God puts on your heart." Then, we must use our personal experiences and emotions to help paint the picture with words.
God has put on my heart to inspire the young adults out there through action-packed, supernatural adventures of redemption, love, and hope. Now, my relationship with God didn't start out with supernatural action, but I did experience His redemption, His love, and now have Hope in Him. So, I can draw on that.
great insight...definitely the best i've heard on this topic...well put and well understood. thanks.
Finally! I get it! For years, I've heard "write what you know." If I took that literally, my writing world would be quite small. No, I'm not saying I'm stupid, but this small town girl learned how to step outside her comfort zone and broaden her horizons only in the past five years. Thanks, Rachelle, for making this so clear. :)
Great definition for "write what you know." I've heard that same piece of advice so many times, but I can never take it literally enough to only write situations I've personally experienced. I always take it to mean write the emotions I know and the situations I can learn.
My one published piece is about growing up in a home with an alcoholic parent.
Write what you know.
Kat...good point!
Rachelle, thanks for another great topic. I wonder again if I'm way off base, but when I'm writing a story I monitor my emotions, at least for rough drafts. If I'm feeling nothing, if it's just words on the page, I figure readers aren't feeling it either. If I'm doing something while writing: smiling, tearing up, shaking, urgent, then I hope that's going to transfer.
I love words but not so much I'm willing to wrestle with them for hours and hours if they're not doing anything for me on an emotional level.
In the editing stage I pay attention to where I felt high emotion and am careful not to strip it of urgency. It's hard though. I often wonder if my emotion transfers. I often think it doesn't. **sigh**
When we write a scene, we should ask ourselves what motivates the character. If we come up with an answer that we have not experienced and understand then we’re asking for trouble. The things that motivate us are almost always the same things that motivate other people, so if we write in terms of what would motivate us to do what our characters do then it will make sense to our readers.
Kind of falls into the finding your voice thing, huh?
Amen, sister!
For myself, anything I write seems worthless if it isn't vulnerable and authentic (I almost hate to use that word--seems a little overused) and true to who I am, but sometimes I wonder if it is worth the risk.
I think we need to recognize this as a way Satan can trip us up. He can convince us we don't have to expose ourselves in this way, causing us to "hide it under a bushel" and not let our light shine as God intends.
But God tells us that such a sacrifice is pleasing to Him and can be used for His glory. May He protect us and give us guidance as we "make it real."
Hey there Anonymous, I would like to encourage you to step up to the plate and hit those curve balls life has sent you.
If you are compelled, then you will write. You did a beautiful job of recognizing the barriers that block writers and can snuff out our abilities, but I say "Go for it!" Jump in and write about your feelings, and all of your triumphs (there has to be some). You gotta let go of the past and direct your future, it's up to you.
Write what you know. For me that happens to be where the real me has always been. I grew up in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisanna. The south. My greatest vacation has always been to go to the beach...Florida.
I love it, but I've always dreamed of experiencing places I've never been before like Spain, Italy, Brazil,etc., etc. Exotic places. Even the bone chilling blizzards of Siberia.
I've always had a big imagination. And I want to write about places and people that are outside of and grander than my own bottled up life in North Alabama.
I've never set foot on the Mediterranean Coast of Spain. But somehow with research and pictures and imagination, I can see it, sense it. I can hear the surf, smell the salt water, feel the waves rush over my toes.
So it may not be everything that I know firsthand, but it's everything that I know I have always dreamed about. What I write about is what I know. I don't know how to write anything else...but what I know. You have to write about things that you have totally bought into. How else would you have a chance to get someone else to buy into it?
Did that make sense? Hope so.
Anonymous 3:57
Write for fun - it sounds like you're putting too much pressure on yourself. If you love writing, write and love will come through but don't worry about it - just enjoy it.
I hope this helps.
Thanks for the insight, Rachelle. As I read your post the word that came to mind was passion.
I'm working on a manuscript scene where a mother's teenage daughter has been taken prisoner by the antagonist and the mother must rescue her. As I wrote, the scene seemed flat until I embraced my own emotions and started writing from my heart. As a parent, I asked myself, "What lengths would I go to to rescue my daughter?" Several creative ideas came from my feelings of terror, rage, love, etc.
Obviously, I've never personally dealt with this situation, but I could cull from some fairly raw emotions and thoughts.
This is the best explanation I've ever seen on this. Thanks!
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