The Bones of Writing

Before I begin this post, I have to announce that I'll be taking a leave of absence from blogging here for a while. I'm pushing to get my debut, full-length novel to publication. With the many technical detail checks, edits, formatting and publishing, I'm going to be a very busy writer. I hope you'll all welcome Elizabeth Lance, who'll be taking over for me until mid-August. I'll introduce her to you when she makes her first post the Friday after next. I'll miss all of you, until I get back! Now on to that post...

"Write what you know." It's the first lesson we all learn about writing. It's what we're taught in school and it's something we hear repeated by teachers, agents, and even publishing companies.

It's a good piece of advice, but not very practical if you take it literally. If everyone obeyed "write what you know", in a literal sense, we'd have nothing to read but textbooks, memoirs and autobiographies. After all, I highly doubt Edgar Allan Poe, a career writer, ever committed or investigated a murder. How about J.R.R. Tolkien? It seems unlikely that he ever visited Middle Earth, in person. And unless Isaac Asimov had a close encounter we've never heard about, his books weren't based on pure fact either.

"Write what you know", (aside from non-fiction), is more about the foundation of good creative writing. A successful writer uses their existing knowledge to build the framework for a story. If we think of a story as a living, breathing entity, (and the best stories certainly give that impression), the writer's personal experience makes up the skeletal structure. Their emotional experiences form the heart of the story. From there, imagination and investigation provide the necessary information to flesh it out.

It has been suggested that the bulk of Poe's writing is inspired by, "the repeated loss of women throughout his life, including his wife." (wikipedia) and an obsession with death. Tolkien wrote from his experiences in World War Two, and used his expertise in "word origins, mythology, and languages including Old English, Old Norse, and Finnish." (nndb) Asimov was a professor of Biochemistry, a member of Mensa, and has been published in all ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System. (wikipedia) Combined, they certainly have a broad range of practical experience to write from.

Most writers don't have such an expansive store of expertise. That doesn't mean we aren't capable of creating first-rate fiction. It just means that we should take care to research, or request advice on technical aspects of our stories we may not be familiar with. For example: I'm writing a crime fiction/mystery which includes details of police procedure, Canadian law and the use of firearms. I do have some twenty-year-old experience with firearms, having done a little target shooting, but I'm not terribly knowledgeable in the other two areas.

Still, all three of these subjects are far too complex to write about, based on casual research, and twenty year old memories. As such, I sought out advisors in each field, to review my manuscript for the technical aspects their expertise covers. My forte, if I may humbly claim it, is human nature and emotion. I've been lucky to have lived in a variety of towns and cities, (though I didn't always feel so lucky when I was packing and unpacking, most of the time). I've met thousands of people, with unique personalities and experiences. Their stories and experiences have greatly enhanced my writing.

How else could I write my short story, "Daisy's Love at War", about an eighty-four year old woman with dementia, living in a nursing home? How could I recount her fear, during the blitz? How could I discuss her loss, when her lover is killed? It's simple, really. Daisy is based on several women I've known, including my two Grandmothers. The description of the blitz comes from my Gran's descriptions of huddling in the underground for hours, in the dark, praying the ceiling didn't crumble under a direct hit. The lost boyfriend was one of my other Gran's stories. The emotions, however, are my own.

When I wrote about the blitz, I remembered how it felt to huddle in the dark, as a child, when the power went out, waiting for a hurricane that never came. I placed myself in those tunnels, with my Grandmother, and imagined how I might feel. When I wrote about the loss of her lover, I remembered the sorrow of losing several people I've loved; to Cancer, to car accidents, and to suicide. These emotions are a fundamental part of me. The characters are often a blend of people I've met, befriended and/or loved, with a little of myself thrown in.

Taken figuratively, "write what you know" is an excellent start to the creative process, but writing only what you know will crush your literary aspirations more violently than bad grammar, spelling, or structure. I say, "Write what you don't know!" Research, study, ask questions, but don't stifle your creativity. Stretch your boundaries; just make sure to include your own emotions, experiences and observations. That's how you write what you know. At least, that's how I see it. I'd love to hear your perspective.