We know that "write what you know" can be dubious advice when taken too literally. But what about writing about something you hardly know at all? How far from our own experience is too far for our writing fodder? _________________ Violet "Violanthe" Kane
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Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 523 Location: Upstate New York
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 4:54 pm
Can you really write about something you know nothing about? Or, to be more specific, can you really write convincingly about something you know nothing about? Perhaps there are those that can pull it off, but I think a lack of knowledge will definitely show in your writing. It would certainly be easier to make glaring flaws regarding the facts. And anyone "in the know" will pick out those flaws right away.
Take the sorry state of arms and armour in much fantasy literature (and art) of the past. From chain-mail bikinis to swords too heavy to be lifted by the average man, anyone with some knowledge of historic arms and armour knows how ridiculous these things are. Only my private parts are worth protecting - yeah, that makes sense! My muscle-bound barbarian can swing a gigantic twenty-pound sword - and be swiftly gutted by the little man with the lighter, handier weapon.
I think, with information being immediately available at your fingertips, there's no excuse for writing about something you don't know. Do the research and then write about what you know, or at least have an inkling of. _________________ "I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"
I totally need a chain mail bikini... but imagine the tan lines!
I agree for the most part. But then comes the conundrum of, if you really want to write about something you're unfamiliar with, then you have to research it... and if you research it thoroughly enough, it becomes something that you DO know. And once you know it, then you can write about it, right?
Somewhat grisley but it comes up in quite a few fantasy books: how it feels inside to kill another human. Or to torture someone. Or how a human mind would really adapt to living 400 years or 500 or more.
Or on a much simpler level: how another human really thinks.
Somewhat grisley but it comes up in quite a few fantasy books: how it feels inside to kill another human. Or to torture someone. Or how a human mind would really adapt to living 400 years or 500 or more.
Or on a much simpler level: how another human really thinks.
Well, some authors may have military experience, which is one way to "know" killing without being an axe-murderer. The immortal life thing at least falls under the realm of speculation, so it's not like anyone could prove us wrong.
Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 523 Location: Upstate New York
Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:53 pm
Certainly speculative elements can be beyond reality. In those intances, imagination may be more useful than knowledge. And certainly being imaginative is a key part of speculative writing.
What does an alien being really look like? There are probably an infinite number of possible answers.
What really greets us on the other side of death? Humans have struggled with this question for centuries. And there are hints, but no definite answer. And perhaps their isn't a definite answer anyway. Perhaps there's nothing, or perhaps we make our own heaven or hell. Or perhaps it's something else yet agan...
My point - a lot of the concrete "human experience" can be read about,(including killing and torture - read some real-life accounts of the Holocaust to see the darkest side of humanity).
I'm not saying that you have to be an expert, but some knowledge is probably better than no knowledge, at least in terms of factual "real world" elements. _________________ "I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"
"Write what you know" is the single most ridiculous thing that writing "teachers" have foisted on would-be writers. It's absolute bull shit. The expression should be "Know what you write!" Do your research. Don't misquote. Don't fake your way through a story. Write from the heart.
Faced with something about which I know too little to gauge my ignorance, I must research, study, read-around and research again...
When I hit 'critical mass', when I feel I know enough to --at worst-- hand-wave plausibly, then I dare write...
Er, yes, there's a lot of self-confidence involved: Here, I must mention our recent guest-author who wrote a novel in three (3) weeks...
{FX: Shudder... }
I marvel at the self-confidence of so many big-name authors who turn out reams of ignorant tosh, and still carry their readers-- Think formulaic 'Bodice Rippers' and 'Airport Novels'...
D'uh, logical counterpoint is 'Project Lorraine'-- What on EARTH inspired me to write a surreal, novel-length tale about Plausible Vampires ?? I must have been *MAD* !!
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 418 Location: Minnesota
Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 4:19 pm
I think we know things because we are interested in those particular things. Thus, we research those things. Similarly, if we want to write something we tend towards those things that we are interested in, and thus lean towards things that we know. Hence, with speculation not withstanding, we all write what we know. We know how people interact with each other. Thus, our written interactions between individuals are based on things we know -- even if they are space aliens dining on the flesh of humans. Even in our speculations we imagine how to react to certain circumstances and situations and technologies. Everything we write is somewhat based upon what we know. If you write on things you don't know, you end up making the movie "The Net." _________________ Douglas E. Gogerty
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Around the Campfire
"No, I'm from Iowa. I just work in outer space."
-James T. Kirk
Doug, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you. I'm more in line with Nik's school of thought.
One of the pure joys of writing fiction is that you get to be all of the things you aren't in life. I've been able to live the life of a gay vampire, a Celtic sidhe, an Irish farmboy, a Victorian game hunter and many others who are not in the least like me. For each of those stories, I did major research because none of those things interested me before I determined the story line.
The novel I'm currently working on is about a young girl living two millennia ago in a region of the world I've never seen and have no relation to. I love that I get to embody a girl as she grows into womanhood and old age. I love that her culture and religion are alien to me. I research to support what I might write about her religion, her diet, her house, etc., but I don't have to research her, because she's an invention.
I believe that you should know what you write about by doing the research and being honest. But if people only wrote what they knew, we'd have very little speculative fiction; we wouldn't have works like Kafka's Metamorphosis or The Book of Revelations.
Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 523 Location: Upstate New York
Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 1:52 pm
Isn't the point of doing research precisely so you can write what you know something about, instead of winging it? I certainly enjoy researching fairy folklore for my folklore-inspired poetry, and I think it gives an authentic feeling to my works.
I am an artist, too, and I certainly wouldn't try to draw my historical and legendary figures without first researching the arms, armour, equipment and clothing of the period I'm depicting. Writing is, in some ways, another form of art, so why should it be any different?
You don't necessarily have to experience something to know about it - I'm pretty knowledgeable about medieval arms and armour, but I haven't lived my life as a medieval warrior (at least not this life). However, I've read hundreds of books about arms and armour and medieval military history. _________________ "I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"
Richard, you believe exactly the same thing I do. However, when the creative writing instructors said, "Write what you know," they meant that if you're a farm boy from Iowa, you should write about farm life in Iowa, not about the projects in the South Bronx. This is what I disagree with. I don't believe anyone should tell a writer what to write about ( or an artist what to draw).
It's impossible for me or anyone to know anything about being a vampire. Yet it's one of the icons that draws the most interpreters. Not one is an actual vampire. But the successful ones are those who have done their homework and develop a new and interesting interpretation. Still, the majority of vampire writers' stories read as if they just woke up and decided to write it.
That is why I say the expression should be "know what you write," not "write what you know."
Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 523 Location: Upstate New York
Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 11:25 am
Well, their comment doesn't really take speculative fiction (or poetry) into consideration, does it?
I often write about alien vampiric creatures, evil things in castles, and the darker side of fairy lore. I don't necessarily know about these things through personal experience, although some of my weird personal experiences do influence my work. However, if I'm talking about something in folklore, or details about a castle, I try to get my facts correct.
I like your twist on the mantra - "know what you write". I definitely agree. Do your research, get enough knowledge on the subject to write about it in a believable way.
I just recently finished reading The Poet's Workshop - and Beyond by Terrie Leigh Relf, one of my favourite editors. She talks about the importance of research to get those details right in the section "Researching Your Way to Believable Settings: It's in those pesky little details, isn't it". I believe she has a valid point about the subject, and one I totally agree with.
By the way, I would recommend her book to any aspiring poet or writer. It's an interesting read. I did learn a few things, and it got the creative juices flowing. _________________ "I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 418 Location: Minnesota
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:02 pm
Quote:
Doug, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you. I'm more in line with Nik's school of thought.
One of the pure joys of writing fiction is that you get to be all of the things you aren't in life. I've been able to live the life of a gay vampire, a Celtic sidhe, an Irish farmboy, a Victorian game hunter and many others who are not in the least like me. For each of those stories, I did major research because none of those things interested me before I determined the story line.
David I'm afraid I have to disagree with you. We're not in disagreement. I totally agree that "Write what you know" can be misinterpreted in disastrous ways. It may prevent people from exploring things that they do not know about. With a strict interpretation, those that write speculative fiction wouldn't be able to write anything. I've never been a slave in Roman times, but I know some things about the time period. Thus, I can extrapolate. That is what we do. If I were a gay vampire, what would I do? What would it be like? The cool thing about that is that vampires are completely mythical. Thus, you can make up everything -- if you so choose.
However, what I am talking about (as it were) is that if you do not do any research on being Celtic sidhe, there are people who will know that you did not do your research. They will know that you do not know anything about this topic. Thus, you must have a basic knowledge of anything you write about or you end up looking foolish. _________________ Douglas E. Gogerty
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Around the Campfire
"No, I'm from Iowa. I just work in outer space."
-James T. Kirk
Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 318 Location: Milwaukee, WI
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:15 pm
All my life, from grade school on up, I've hated that maxim, "Write what you know."
If we all did that, how boring would literature be? Everything I wrote would be from a middle aged man's perspective who has a normal family, with a small cape cod, surrounded by a white picket fence, and a dog or two.
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