Write (beyond) what you know

In class the other night we talked about Melanie Rae Thon's brilliant story "Little White Sister," which not only an amazing read but an important lesson to writers: Write beyond what you know.

In this interview with BOMB Magazine, Thon talks about her decision to write from the perspective of a black male in first person:

"Those voices of censorship become ridiculous. The extrapolation of that kind of thinking is that you can't write as a child, you can't write as an old person, you can't write a