Write what you know. You can’t read a book written for the craft of writing without seeing these four words jump out at you as an answer on how to get started. In my case, I see those words and am torn. On the one hand I think, “Yes! I know things! I can do this!” On the other hand, when I ruminate over these four simple words, I feel as if I am standing at the edge of a cliff and staring out over a vast and powerful ocean. Hold your horses, let me clarify what I mean by that potentially egotistical statement. The cliff under my feet, the solidness of it beneath and behind me, represents what I understand. What I know. And I can’t help but look out over the edge and see the entirety of what I do not know. The ocean in its tremulousness embodies the complete vastness of all the knowledge I have yet to conquer.
This is intimidating when you are trying to write and you don’t want it to end up in the trash. My fear is that if I write what I know it will be a small, flimsy, ugly thing. I tend to steer away from the “write what you know” mentality acknowledging that it limits me because, let’s be honest, I have never dug for gold with an orphan child in the backbone of Costa Rica but maybe someday I want to write a book or story about just that!
As you are well aware, my writer friends, we string words together like misshapen teeth. We try desperately to keep up with the scenes playing out in our heads, pounding life into them with every word that we put on paper. This is what is exciting. This is what keeps us coming back. We want to tell the stories that haven’t been told. We want to blow the world’s socks off with a character made from our own imagination and, yes, maybe they are a little influenced by things we know because, well, how can they not be? Maybe we should welcome the solid things we know into the world that is just being created inside of us. As with most things, balance is key. Write what you know but don’t be afraid to add a few things that you don’t know and see where it goes.
I want to share a few books that have encouraged me through the years when I’m not sure what to write, how to write, when to write or just need a swift kick in the bottom.
- On Writing, Stephen King
- Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
- A Cup of Comfort for Writers, Edited by Colleen Sell
- Imaginative Writing, Janey Burroway
- The Fire In Fiction, Donald Mass
These are just a few books on my shelf, what’s on yours? Leave a comment below on what gets your writer’s brain motivated.
Photo by Anthony Tori on Unsplash
