WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW.

[agilebrit]

Yeah, I just saw this terrible "advice" on Yahoo Answers again. And kind of snapped. And ranted. I shall reproduce it here for posterity (because it's entirely possible it will be reported for "abuse"--which I will fight):

Write what you know, yes. And then research the rest. If all we ever wrote about was what we KNEW, I wouldn't have stuck an "end" at the bottom of my zombie story this morning. I looked up cerebrospinal fluid, and theories of zombie physiology, and mapped from Lampasas, TX, to Austin. I looked up a map of the University of Texas at Austin. I checked to see what sort of medical research they do there. ALL of it played into my plot--and I didn't know ANY of it when I started.

For other story-related things, I've looked up 9mm gunshot exit wounds. California firearms laws. Stockholm Syndrome. MRI's. Height and weight averages for men. Needle placement for an IV. Guns in general and particular. Defibrillators. Whether beheading kills a bee instantly. PTSD, flashbacks, and panic attacks. The list is endless.

But if I just stuck with "write what I know," I wouldn't get very far. Writers are not endless encyclopedias of knowledge AND THAT'S OKAY. It's just a matter of knowing where to find the information you need. And, yes, asking questions on Yahoo Answers is a perfectly legitimate way of doing it. However, I'd verify any information you got from here with an outside source, because some people here act like they know what they're talking about when they actually don't.

[redacted paragraph on basic research tools and what she could use to find what she's looking for]

"Write what you know" assumes that you can't find stuff out. How boring would that be?

If these kids were stuck with "writing what they knew," then all they'd write about is high school. If I stuck with "writing what I know" I'd never have written either of my novels--or (probably), any of my short stories. I can't think of a single one (not even the Bunny From Hell story) that I didn't have to do SOME research on. If all we wrote was "what we know," then where would fantasy and SF come from? How many SF writers have an actual background in hard science? Some of us, sure (hey, I've got a degree in Biology I never use), but not all. Probably not even most.

I am so sick and tired of seeing people get their chops busted for asking a perfectly legitimate research question on Yahoo Answers. Sanctimonious idiots spouting a slogan they don't even know the meaning of and sounding all authoritative and shit.

GAH.

Comments

[expectare.livejournal.com]

ILU

I always got in trouble for (a) writing stuff I didn't know, like steampunk and pulp action adventures, or (b) writing non-fiction in a fictionalized manner. The former wasn't what I knew, and the latter was "unrealistic." EVEN THOUGH IT ALL HAPPENED.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

You know, maybe instead of worrying about whether requiring correct grammar "stifles creativity," perhaps we should worry about these other stupid "rules" stifling creativity instead.

If you get a fact wrong in a story, that can be corrected with a little research. But it's so much easier to write if the mechanics of doing so are second nature.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Amen.

But then, you do know what you write, because you research...

The science fiction section would be way skinnier if people only wrote what they knew. Fantasy, too.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've never met a werewolf. Guess I should stop writing about them, stat.

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

I think a better slogan might be "don't write in ignorance." In this day and time, with all the research available there really is no excuse for it.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Seriously. And there's nothing wrong with asking questions of people who might possibly be on the ground in the places you don't have firsthand knowledge of. But apparently the sanctimonious twits at Slogans R Us were out in force last night.

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

I think the biggest problem with the "write what you know" chestnut is that it is useful, but only to a point, and the point to which it's useful and the sense in which it's actually useful seem to be wildly misunderstood. Because yeah: if everybody stuck strictly to writing what they knew, very few people would write anything very interesting. So people who are responding with this on Yahoo Answers to research questions, as it sounds like they were in this case, are being...almost completely unhelpful.

But like I said: this idea can be useful if it's understood properly. I submit that information a writer learns or researches during the process--assuming it's researched thoroughly enough--could be considered to become what the writer knows, and therefore "write what you know" is a caution against, you know, making crap up and assuming your readers can't tell you didn't do your homework. That may be taking the axiom a little far, but it's a good reminder for some people, because there seem to be a lot of authors who just...don't do their homework.

I've also seen "write what you know" explained as, basically, "write from your own lived experience, emotions, and understanding, so that no matter how far-fetched/speculative/alien/whatever your actual plots get, your characters will emotionally resonate with readers because those emotions etc. come from the reality you know." Which, again, would obviously be giving too much credit to the people you're talking about, if one assumed that's what they meant...but it does mean that "write what you know" can be a very helpful reminder.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

The response that triggered the rant was this:

A general rule of writing: If you don't know about it, don't write about it. Common sense, really.

I can understand why you would want it to be a real place, so the story seems more "real." But, honestly, just make a place up, based upon the places you know in reality. It can be just as convincing.

And it's not the first time I've seen something like that on YA, where apparently, if you don't know about it firsthand and you have to ask questions about it, then you should just give up and write something else. Or something. "Write what you know" is all fine and good, but taking it way too far (as this useless "answerer" did) is what I'm objecting to here.

[solri.livejournal.com]

I've seen the same advice in an article by William Burroughs, so unless he was being totally hypocritical (or had a life in a parallel universe even weirder than the one we know about), we can assume that "know" is to be interpreted broadly.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

And it's fine advice as far as it goes. I just see it taken way too far way too often. Telling someone to "make something up out of whole cloth" rather than using an actual city because they had the temerity to ask a question about it is ridiculous--and that's what I'm ranting about here. :)

[solri.livejournal.com]

It's like those bits of advice on style, like "Cut out unnecessary words." I mean, who would cut out a necessary word, or deliberately insert an unnecessary one? (Except, of course, for students trying to stay inside the word limits.)

Write what you can imagine

[bradrtorgersen.livejournal.com]

Having heard this pithy -- but empty -- phrase uttered endlessly, I have concluded that, "Write what you know," is of no use to anyone doing fiction. It's certainly great advice for non-fiction, but fiction writers... Well, if you don't "know" it then by golly MAKE IT UP, most of your readers will never know the difference. Those that complain, well, just say, "I am a writer who writers fiction so I made it up!" Anyone not satisfied with that answer... Probably needs to go find something else to complain about.

Hey, CONduit is starting tomorrow. What's your plan for Friday?

I am on a panel at 1 PM and a panel at 5 PM, otherwise I will do my usual audience lurk on those panels which seem interesting. Haven't figured out yet which ones I will do.

Re: Write what you can imagine

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I will be there all weekend. Probably arrive at eleven or so, might grab lunch in the cafe or the bar downstairs.

I need to print out some more business cards. Yay.