Years ago, when I first dabbled with the idea of writing fiction, I read Mark Twain’s advice to ‘write what you know’. However, I didn’t want to write about a former public relations manager, who lived with her family in suburbia, and enjoyed visiting art galleries, travelling and reading. Cue: yawn.
I quickly realised that Twain’s advice shouldn’t be accepted at face value. The term ‘to know’ can be interpreted in a much broader sense than simply being familiar with or having experienced something. Knowledge indicates having an understanding, appreciation or proficiency of a certain concept; it suggests a level of discernment, interest or emotional connection.
Writing, whether nonfiction or fiction, is all about sharing something of our inner self. Our personality, beliefs, aspirations, life experiences, families and relationships are what we best know, and what we should aspire to share through our writing. Whether a full-blown discourse or little snippets of information, whether an oblique or blatant revelation, including something of our inner self in our writing is all about ‘writing what you know’.
The creative process involves writing about your passions and interests. When we share details of a topic that fascinates us, our energy shines through. Enthusiasm is infectious. Readers will sense this in our writing. I rarely read science fiction or space travel stories, but I loved Andy Weir’s The Martian and Project Hail Mary because his fascination with astrodynamics, spaceflight and aliens was evident in his plotting, character development and research. The stories were abuzz with energy. Rather than simply writing what you know, a better rule would be to write what you find fascinating.
Be empathetic and write about what touches you emotionally. We all experience a range of emotions – love, anguish, elation, grief, happiness, anger, anticipation, remorse, excitement, fear and more – which leave indelible stamps on our life and soul. Such emotions are universal and relatable to anyone. Sharing your interpretation of those emotions is a powerful way of drawing readers into a story. If you’ve known grief, in any of its forms, then you can write about grief. If you’ve experienced immense excitement, then you can use your personal knowledge to instil similar levels of excitement in a fictional character. Anthony Doerr, the author of All the Light We Cannot See, did not have to be blind to write about the fear and sadness experienced by the blind protagonist in his story, but through his understanding of fear and sadness in his own life, Doerr imbued the story with these visceral emotions. A more apt rule would be to write what you feel.
Write about extraordinary fancies, daydreams and imaginings. Writers use their personal experiences and emotions to colour their writing, but they also use their imagination. You may have never experienced terror or anguish on a personal level, or experienced the sensation of weightlessness in space or being in the middle of a war zone, but you can use your imagination. Talk to people, read widely, research a topic you know nothing about, allow yourself to daydream and wonder. Ursula Le Guin, a prolific science fiction writer and author of The Left Hand of Darkness, advises to “write what you know, but remember you may know dragons.” A more appropriate rule would be to write what you imagine.
Push the boundaries with your imagination, interests and emotions to write with boldness. Dare to imagine wildly and create outside the box. The books that have stayed longest in my heart and mind are those that are audacious: Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Invention of Wings, used her extraordinary imagination to write in the voice of a slave in the antebellum period of the American Deep South, describing how the writing experience took her “further out on the writing limb than I’d ever been.” So, be brave and write what you dare.
The adage ‘write what you know’ becomes much more exciting and boundless when interpreted through the eyes of different authors. My favourite interpretation comes from short story author Raymond Carver when he advised writers that “a little autobiography and a lot of imagination are best.”
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