Why Writing the Unknown is Important, Too

Advice, strangely enough, is never one size fits all. We’ve asked participants to share the best writing advice they never listened to. Today, Gillian Pegg, NaNoWriMo participant, shares why abandoned writing the known:

“Write what you know.”

I’ve probably heard this piece of advice a thousand times, seen it written in countless articles and discussed it in numerous writing workshops. But what on earth does that even mean, to write what you know?

I know many things. I know how to brew a pot of tea, I know how to hold a conversation, I know how to time a witty remark. Are any of these things helpful when it comes to writing? I’m sure many would argue that they are. That knowing things, from the everyday to the wondrous, brings about a level of familiarity, of understanding and resonance with the reader.

But I want to challenge this stagnant notion. If we only ever write what we know, how do we ever reach that tipping point of discovery within ourselves? How can we possibly keep stretching and improving our writing if we only ever stick with the same topics, the same experiences?

How about we take after our readers and live vicariously through our characters. What is it like to take that final step to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, to breathe in and look out at the Tanzanian sunset? What is it like to feel the first sharp jab of heartbreak, or to visit the site of your family home after a fire?

I want to use my imagination and creativity, and really find myself and my characters within their world, not mine.

To me, being a writer means exploring my mental jungle, finding stories and characters and places that I didn’t know existed. It’s solving plot riddles, it’s holding the hand of a beloved character as they dangle precariously over the side of a cliff and wondering whether I should kill them off or not.

Writing is creating worlds. I want to use my imagination and creativity, and really find myself and my characters within their world, not mine. I want my characters to discover things for themselves, and bring me along with them. I want to see things for the first time through their eyes.

That means taking a leap and writing about things that I have never experienced in my personal life. It means allowing a front seat to your innate sense of wonder, along with the jitters that come with it.

So don’t write what you know. Write what you want to know, write what you’re afraid to know. Push yourself, challenge your inner writer, and let your imagination soar. Maybe that’s where you’ll find your strength.

After all… you never know.

Gillian Pegg is a passionate writer, a voracious reader, and a lover of all things fantasy. She is working toward one day seeing her name on the front cover of a novel, and is currently finishing her university degree in Northern Ontario, Canada. This summer, she has been accepted to the Creative Writing Summer Program at Cambridge University. If you would like to read more about Gillian’s current writing projects, check her out on Wattpad and Wordpress!

Top photo by Flickr user Jacob Surland.