Should You Write What You Know?

The adage of “Write What You Know” is something all fiction writers are told at some point.

But… should you?

Writers seem split on this advice. Here’s an article which provides pro and con quotes from 31 famous novelists from the likes of Kazuo Ishiguro to Philip Pullman.

The Problem With Writing What You Know

Some of my earliest “fiction” were the journal entries I was forced to write as a child. Each summer, my mother required us to write a daily entry in our notebooks. Like most kids, we were more interested in going on adventures, and in those halcyon days of being a free-range child, we often disappeared after breakfast and returned just in time for dinner.

My mother would let us go a few weeks before bringing up the dreaded journals. But once she did, we were grounded until we caught up. No swimming, no side trips, no fun. I don’t know why she required this tedious task; we filled pages and pages with, “Got up. Ate breakfast. Played all day with Patrick. It was hot and dinner was not good.” These entries were meaningless. They didn’t speak to our genuine experience. There was no emotion, no introspection.

I ate, I played, I slept.

When I came across them as an adult, I flipped through a few pages. They did not refresh fond memories from childhood. They did not remind me of events I’d forgotten, or the essential nature of being seven years old. The journals did not bring joy… so I tossed them into the recycle bin.

This type of grim, enforced journalism, a staid and dull reporting of what happened is why so many writers push back on the write what you know advice.

While it might be a factual reporting (mine wasn’t!), where is the imagination? Where is the story?

But many writers think write what you know means they should write about their life. It doesn’t; I promise. Because real by itself isn’t interesting.

Even when writing memoir, no one wants to read an accounting of your life if all you have to say is: I ate, I played, I slept.

When to Write What You Know

Here’s my take.

By itself, even a transformative lived experience, may not be enough to sustain a long-form piece of fiction. And worse, unless you’ve modeled your character after yourself, the way you processed the event might not make sense for your character.

Instead, write what you know to anchor your story, but don’t turn what you know into a story. This is not writers writing writers. But if you worked in the kitchens of a cruise ship for a summer, maybe you plumb your memories to bring texture to a story about the plight of a kitchen worker on a spaceship that’s just been sucked into a wormhole.

The same curiosity you used to develop your story idea has chased other ideas too, and these can be useful for your writing. You can use your experience of how the desert feels, or the emotions around the complicated relationship you had with your grandmother to improve your story. When you use what you know, you will write in a way incomparable to how another writer would approach the subject. Your unique take can (and should!) impact the world you create through your writing.

What do you think? What do you know?

Your lived experience can provide rich fodder for your imagination. Knowledge you can mine includes:

• Unusual or difficult situations
• Emotions
• Relationships
• Hobbies
• Locations
• People
• Jobs
• Culture
• Sensory experiences

You can use what you know as a springboard for your imagination to write what you don’t know. To envisage a situation, a conflict—a life—and then explore what could happen, if...

Fiction is Imagination Documented

While “what you know” should not be the story, write what you know to enrich the narrative experience you craft.

Use your knowledge to write characters that are real and dimensional. To create a sense of immersion in an unlikely situation. Write what you know to raise your story stakes so you can ratchet up the tension and conflict. Above all, use what you know to make your characters relatable… even if they are a space salamander from a distant galaxy.

How have you incorporated what you know into your fiction?

Header Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash