Comments on: Write what you know, NOT!

By: While You Were Out | kt literary

While You Were Out | kt literary — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 06:39:01 +0000

[...] Advice Month,” and you wouldn’t do bad to follow all her posts on the subject. She also shared her opinion on the old adage “Write What You Know.” Well worth a close read! I’m sure I [...]

By: Angela Slatter

Angela Slatter — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:27:15 +0000

How about ‘Write what you love’?

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:27:41 +0000

Shannon Hale recently blogged on this topic at http://www.squeetus.com. She shared a similar opinion that is worth reading. ~Thanks Justine, I agree!

By: Misrule

Misrule — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:25:25 +0000

Sage advice for young & aspiring writers…

Justine Larbalestier has written a very succinct and timely (for me) debunking of the old "write what you know" furphy. Read it here. And take note: she knows whereof she speaks. Thanks, Justine.Also, make a point of checking out her latest…

By: Judith Ridge

Judith Ridge — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:00:37 +0000

Thanks for posting this, Justine. It’s the one thing you hear said to young writers time and again, and it drives me nuts. I don’t know where it came from, but I suspect it may have somehow got bastardised from what JJ quotes Stephen King as saying, about writing from emotional truths. Write what you know in your heart, perhaps is good advice, but sadly that’s not usually what people mean when they say this. I am teaching a creative writing course next week for HSC students and I may well refer them to this post (or print it out and distribute it to them, if that’s OK with you!).

By: Kelly McCullough

Kelly McCullough — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:06:16 +0000

I heartily agree. That's one of my own least favorite pieces of writing advice and one that I've railed against in blogland from time to time as well. Linked.

By: Melinda Szymanik

Melinda Szymanik — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:44:42 +0000

John Marsden says stories come from only two places: imagination and experience. Sometimes you have to borrow experience through research but ultimately imagination and experience are vast (limitless) places. The only limits are the ones we put on ourselves because of what we’ve been taught or told by unimaginitive, inexperienced people. Although laziness can be limiting too. Especially over the holidays.

By: Cat

Cat — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:42:11 +0000

So is editing…I should have edited the ending. c

By: Cat

Cat — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:41:10 +0000

Don’t think that Rowling knew first hand what being a boy wizard was really like. Imagination, research, working hard, writing writing writing, rewriting, using what you know, believing in yourself, never giving up, etc etc…all help in the process. Finishing something also helps but it is not easy (this is my problem). It is a long hard process. Not for the faint of hearts. I wish everyone well in the process but never forget that imagination is a big part of the process.

By: jocelyn

jocelyn — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:26:14 +0000

This is excellent, excellent advice. I love it. If we followed the advice of our boring, lacking in imagination schoolteachers like that one (and my own second grade teacher, actually), there would never be any books about fairies or wizards or zombies!

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:20:09 +0000

You speak like the professional person you are, far removed from the wannabe who thinks researching stuff is a waste of writing time. I think you must write accurately, if you know it then you don’t have to do (much) research, if you don’t know it then you do (or write fantasy where you don’t have to).

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:19:33 +0000

Similar to Stephen King, I say “Write what you know to be true” with regards to human emotion. Everything else can be made up.

But I think it’s bollocks that people give writers this “advice.” No one tells actors to “act only what you know?” They do their research, they pretend, they imagine, and if they’re method actors, they go out and live as their character for the day. And no one says, “Oh they shouldn’t be playing that evil genius; they aren’t a genius!” Bah.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:38:38 +0000

I like the idea of write what you want to know – which is what I think you are saying. This will make the research phase interesting and exciting.

I always thought the write what you know expression was good for absolute beginners, for people who are having trouble finishing a story, for people who are working on their craft still(Well, you should always be working on your craft.) But if you take out the need for much research, it allows you to concentrate on writing and not be distracted, especially if what you need to research is shiny.

It always offends me when someone interprets WWYK to mean, men shouldn’t write women protagonists or any other variation of make the character look like you…

By: Sir Tessa

Sir Tessa — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:10:47 +0000

Wot Kathleen sed.

By: Nicholas Waller

Nicholas Waller — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:43:30 +0000

When I was at primary school in Beirut one of my teachers asked my mother about our sailing boat. "We've never had a sailing boat," she replied. Apparently one of my stories contained convincing descriptions of mucking about in boats, which I had absorbed (or nicked) from the Swallows and Amazons books. (40 years later I discovered - by running into her daughter at a folk club - that there had been another mother at this school, Brigit Sanders, who was one of the Altounyan children Arthur Ransome used as inspiration for the Walker family in those stories.)

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:33:36 +0000

Have you read Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’? There’s a part in there where he speaks about this whole ‘write what you know’ business. The way he puts it, you can write about anything you want, as long as you tell the truth. He said:

“Write what you like, then imbue it with life and make it unique by blending in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationships, sex, and work. Especially work. People love to read about work. God knows why, but they do.”

Which sounds pretty much bang on, doesn’t it?

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:28:50 +0000

I always switch it around to “Know what you write”.

By: Excellent Writing Advice From Justine Larbalestier « Teen Book Review

Excellent Writing Advice From Justine Larbalestier « Teen Book Review — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:14:33 +0000

[...] Justine Larbalestier has written a blog post debunking (in a way) the famous myth that one should only write what one knows. She urges us all to learn about things that interest us, and write about that! Books, she says, require research. And what brilliant advice that is! Check it out, much more well articulated than this summary, here. [...]