Photo courtesy of David Castillo Dominici/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
It’s a crazy-busy time of year, so today I’m reposting a teaching blog from way back in 2008. It’s an oldie but goodie that I hope will help you with your current WIP (work in progress), whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.
Don’t Write What You Know
If you’ve been writing for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the adage, “Write what you know.” I understand the reasoning behind the statement, but I’m afraid I have to disagree. Now, before you post nasty comments and threaten to cancel your RSS feed, please hear me out.
Last week I had breakfast with two writer-friends, and one of them (who just happens to also be a freelance editor) was telling about a recent chapter she had critiqued. She said the writing was good, with perfect sentence structure and beautiful language. The problem was what he wrote. (NOTE: The specifics of the manuscript have been changed to protect the author’s identity, but the situation is entirely true).
For three pages, the character prepared breakfast, sipped coffee, read the paper, and then took the reader on a step-by-step description of repairing a car engine. Using technical terminology and painfully explicit detail, the author seemed to want the reader to be impressed with his knowledge of car engines. Or perhaps he wanted the reader to “be there.” But the truth is, the reader was long gone–bored to death by the very details the author had so eloquently included!
The truth is, in our zeal to create realistic scenes, it’s easy to include too much information–especially if it’s something we’re very knowledgeable about. We want to WOW the reader with our level of expertise, share the scope of our experience, and teach them a thing or two about the subject we’re so passionate about. But we have to remember that the reader probably doesn’t share our love of car engines or sailboats or nursing procedures. Most likely, the reader wants a few sentences to get an idea of what’s going on, and get on to the meat and emotion of the story.
And it’s not limited to fiction writing. With magazine articles, there’s a good chance you’ll have much more information than you need. The first draft of most of my articles ends up being about twice as long as my word limit. Which means I have to cut, cut, cut. And yes–I’m cutting good stuff with lots of good information. But reality is, I don’t have to give them everything I know. The reader doesn’t want to read everything there is about a subject.
But what if the opposite is true? What if you don’t know anything about the subject? No problem! There are lots of people willing to lend their expertise–especially if they know you’re writing a book or article! And with the internet, knowledge is simply a click away.
So instead of “Write what you know,” here’s my three-fold adage:
- Lesson #1: Don’t write everything you know. Don’t use your blank page to deliver a tutorial about the technical steps of starting an IV or faux painting a wall or tying a sail knot. And don’t let your character do it, either! Give the reader just enough information to grab and maintain his or her interest. Just enough to engage them emotionally and let them experience what the character is feeling. Details are good. Information-dumping is not.
- Lesson #2: Write what you’re passionate about or familiar with. Familiar topics will be more interesting–and probably easier–for you to write, especially when you’re starting out. I’ve written about many things that don’t really excite me–things like tooth whiteners, medicine cabinets, and heartburn. But I am passionate about good health and taking care of our bodies. These topics were simply off-shoots of my passion and experience.
- Lesson #3: Write what you can research. Again, I didn’t know very much about tooth whiteners or medicine cabinets or heartburn. But there were many out there who did, and they were more than happy to tell me what I needed to know. And with the internet, we have an endless library of information right at our fingertips!
So, do you see that “Write what you know” is not an all-or-nothing concept? It’s taking your knowledge, experience, and passion, and judiciously sharing them with your readers in bite-sized pieces.
Write less and you’ll often have more.
(Photo courtesy of David Castillo Dominici/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
