Writing Tips: Write What You Know

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writing tips write what you know

If there’s one piece of writing recommendation that took me years to truly perceive, it’s write what you know.

Once I first heard this instruction, I believed it was odd. I don’t bear in mind the place I first heard it, however I do keep in mind considering that as far as writing tips went, it was absurd.

What about writing from your imagination or your feelings? How do genres like science fiction and fantasy match into the concept that you need to solely write what you understand?

All of it appeared relatively limiting. Was I supposed to put in writing about American suburbia? As a result of that’s what I knew, and it was the very last thing I needed to jot down about.

One of many reasons memoir doesn’t attraction to me as a author is as a result of I don’t need to write what I know. I don’t want to relive my life. I want to use writing to live outside of my life, to discover what I don’t know.

I made a decision to disregard the recommendation and write no matter I needed, whether or not I knew it or not.
What Does It Imply to Write What You Know?

Over time, I began to grasp that write what you understand isn’t a kind of writing tips that is meant to be taken literally. It’s not a chunk of instruction; it’s a guideline.

Take into consideration the world of Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling invented a world of magic, a world that many of us may dream about but none might know in the literal sense. Yet she based that world on our world and on the numerous fantastical, fictional worlds that already exist in literature. Even if we’re not consciously aware of it, we are consistently influenced by what we’ve learn, seen, and experienced. My guess is that in one way or one other, the seeds of Harry Potter’s world came from Center Earth, Narnia, and a galaxy far, far away.

Essentially the most fantastical worlds in storytelling are beloved because they're stuffed with truths. They tell us who we're as individuals and as a society. I'd guess that Ms. Rowling knows a factor or two about friendship and loyalty as a result of there is a fact to the relationships that exist between Harry and his closest friends, Ron and Hermione. These relationships have ups and downs however are constant.

Whereas flipping backwards and forwards between two channels late at evening, Suzanne Collins saw children competing on reality TV and photographs of the conflict in Iraq. The images blurred in her tired mind, and the Hunger Games had been born. She didn’t know a world the place youngsters are thrust into an arena to battle to the death. However she might take what she knew (or might learn), add a heap of her own imagination and render a believable world.

To jot down what you understand does not mean to only write about experiences you’ve really had or people you’ve actually met. It means to make use of what you know about life, nature, and humanity and use it as the inspiration in your stories.
Write What You Want

I believe the best writing is a balanced mixture of what the writer knows and what the author seeks. Maybe the setting is the author’s dwelling city and the characters are primarily based on her friends and family, however the plot is completely outdoors her realm of experience. Maybe the plot is taken from historical past, which the author has researched (and due to this fact knows), but the world wherein it's set is drawn from his imagination. Creativity and art are all about combining present components in progressive ways.

It's true: you should write what you realize, however you must also depart room in writing for the unknown, room to discover and discover new truths, concepts, and prospects:

    * Write what you feel. Use your personal, emotional experiences and share them with the reader by means of characters you’ve invented. Emotional truths make a bit of fiction trustworthy and compelling.
    * Write what you imagine. Let yourself discover a world of prospects: fantastical beasts, mythical creatures, aliens, and strange, magical worlds.
    * Write what you experience. Every expertise you’ve had might be translated to fiction. Bear in mind your first day of faculty? Tweak that experience and provides it to considered one of your characters, even if the character is an elf or an alien.
    * Write what interests you. You'll be able to write what you recognize after you’ve discovered it. Conduct research about things that interest you after which use these things in your stories. Pull facts and ideas from historical past, present occasions, and textbooks.
    * Write what issues to you. It goes without saying that your work must matter to you. Write about what moves you, stirs your ardour, fills you with joy or rage. Should you’re invested in your venture, it would come via in your writing and it will communicate to greater truths.

What do you write?

How do you feel about writing suggestions like write what you recognize? Do you try to write what you know? How far exterior of what you understand do you take your writing? Share your ideas by leaving a remark, and maintain writing.

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