Write What You Know?

September 22, 2024 by Harvey

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* Write What You Know…
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quotes of the Day

” To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge”. Nicolaus Copernicus, after…

“To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.” Confucius

Write What You Know Even if You Don’t Know It, Although You Do, Y’Know?

a guest post by Dan Baldwin

Writers are hammered with marching orders to always write what you know.

My novel Sparky and the Beard, about Jack Ruby and the Mob, takes place in the jungles, nightclubs and casinos, small towns, and Fidel’s dreaded Triscornia Prison Camp of Cuba in 1959.

I was nine years old in 1959 and I’ve never been to Cuba.

The action in my Western novel, Trapp Canyon, takes place in southern Arizona, especially Tombstone, in the 1880s.

I’ve been to Tombstone often, but never to the 1880s.

Much of my mainstream novel Gabby Durango centers on the emerging motion picture community of Los Angeles in the early 20th century, especially the rich background of the Black cinema.

I’ve never been a cowboy star. I’m not a Black actor. My only two trips to Hollywoodland were on business and I never got near a studio.

I’m thinking about a science fiction novel, but I’ve never been to the Homuckulon Galaxy or the homeworld of the Snail People of Zythor. I know nothing of Heeling Forsooth, the hero, or his feline girlfriend Spxdinkalrr.

How can I write about what I don’t know when there’s so much I don’t know, y’know?

The marching orders are misstated.

All the challenges mentioned above fall into the classification of window dressing. Window dressing is important, critical in many cases.

Place a double action Colt revolver in the battle of the Alamo and you will get hostile letters. Most window dressing challenges can be met with diligent research.

That’s important, but novels aren’t made by research. More important than the window dressing is character and conflict. Regardless of the subject matter, you do know a lot about those two subjects.

You probably know nothing about battles in hyper-space, but don’t let that stop you from writing a space opera.

We’ve all been high-tailing it down the Interstate only to be cut off by some angry, road-raged nutburger dying to make the exit ahead of you.

Think about how you felt at that moment. Use that emotion to open the hyper-space ambush.

We’ve all had a tire blow out at highway speed. That’s the Zyglopian phaser blast.

When you suddenly had to veer left to avoid being hit by old Uncle Snowbird pulling his ’57 Ford truck into your path from nowhere. That moment of intense fear is what it’s like to dodge a photon torpedo.

Sure, you can’t interview Ike Clanton about that little scrap at the OK Corral, but you do know a well-respected businessman who also runs a shady operation under the table.

Sure, you can’t get into the mind of Wyatt Earp, but you do know a cop about whom your dad used to say, “Well, you know before he moved here, I heard….”

What did Josephine Marcus, Mattie Earp, the hurdy gurdy girls or the school marm feel about men back in the Wild West? You can never know that, but you do know what it’s like to be turned down for a date.

What it’s like to fall for the wrong person, or for the right person at the wrong time. We’ve all had our hearts broken by Brad or BettyPam.

Surely, you know of Miss Davenport, the school librarian, and her crush on Coach Ingamar, the blond, blue-eyed former Olympiad weightlifter from Norway.

Those are your characters and your characters’ problems. That’s character and conflict you do know.

You’ve never faced having to make a command decision just before D-Day or tried to work out a compromise between Travis and Jim Bowie at the Alamo.

But you’ve been in a heated committee meeting where things nearly turned into a brawl. You’ve been in fights on the school ground. You’ve argued your case and won and lost.

You know emotions.

You know people—characters.

You know conflict.

You know enough to write a fascinating novel, short story, screenplay or poem. As important as it may be, the rest is just window dressing. Follow your heart and you’ll always know precisely what you need to know.

*

Thanks, Dan.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

Accidental Branding Slow news day.

The Numbers

The Journal……………………………… 790

Writing of Stern Talbot: The Origin Story

Day 1…… 4327 words. To date…… 4327
Day 2…… 3822 words. To date…… 8149

Fiction for September…………………….. 63060
Fiction for 2024………………………….… 697996
Fiction since October 1…………………… 846848
Nonfiction for September………………… 21080
Nonfiction for 2024……………………….. 295920
2024 consumable words…………………. 839711

Average Fiction WPD (September)……… 3002

2024 Novels to Date……………………… 13
2024 Novellas to Date……………………. 0
2024 Short Stories to Date………………. 14
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 95
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………. 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………. 251
Short story collections……………………. 29

Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer, but please try this at home. You can do it. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies. They will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.

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