Word Nerdery: Write What You Know, a Discussion

I recently went to my monthly bookclub at the library. (Libraries are wonderful.) We were talking about R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface, which I didn’t like much for various reasons, though it was interesting. But in the discussion, one of the points that came up was whether a person is allowed to write “outside their lane” as it were. This discussion focused on the characters in the book, but it got me thinking.

For ages, one of the cornerstones of writing advice has been, “Write what you know.” If you know the sounds and scenery of the highlands, write that sound and scenery. Write your pain, write your joy, write what you have experienced so that you can share such experiences with your readers. Now, of course, this advice is a bit broad and can be misinterpreted, because if you stick only to “write what you know” then there would be no fantasy novels. 

(A funny point that was brought up in the discussion was that thriller authors would have to be exclusively spies or murderers if people stuck to that advice. Which would make it easy for the police, I suppose.)

There’s no need for you to know anything about Yellowface to take part in this sort of discussion, and I’m curious what you think. Essentially, the book involves an author who plagiarises her dead friend’s book, passes herself off as Chinese American adjacent, and thus receives massive criticism for writing an experience that she didn’t have ownership of. (There is a lot more that went into this book, so if you’re interested, feel free to read it, but that’s the major point for the sake of this essay.)

Between the advice, “write what you know,” and the criticism the character received for “writing” a story that wasn’t of her culture or heritage, I began to wonder. How much of a story that isn’t our own are we allowed to write?

I’m autistic and disabled. I’ve never not been autistic, but I have been not disabled. So theoretically, I could write about an autistic abled person, and an autistic disabled person, but am I allowed to write about a neurotypical character who is abled? Who is disabled? Who is of a different gender? Who is of a different sexuality? Who has a different cultural background? Who is of a different race? Who has experienced trauma that I’ve not personally experienced? 

I full-heartedly believe that people should be allowed to write the stories of their own people. Black people should be allowed to write stories about Black heritage and history and future and experience. And I also understand that there are some things that another person of differing background could never understand. A white person could never fully understand what it is to be Black, so they shouldn’t try to take ownership of a story about Black voices. But can they write a book with a Black MC?

One of the points that was brought up in the discussion was the role of sensitivity readers. I think that sensitivity readers help to make sure an author portrays an accurate and respectful image of the people being portrayed. And that makes a huge difference when telling a story, because the author has made a point to ask the community whether their story represents them well. I think that’s one way that some of the question of writing a story that isn’t necessarily yours can be answered. But does it answer everything?

This is a topic for which I have no answers. I have many stories to tell and not all of them are experiences that are strictly mine. I have done research and tried to write in a respectful tone, and so have many other authors who run into the same problem. I would argue that all authors may run into this at some point. Where is the line that we shouldn’t cross? How do we write a compelling story only with our own perspective? 

I don’t know. I can do my best, and enlist readers to help shape things, but I don’t know the answer. If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear them. Any thoughts would be most appreciated!

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