Write what you know?

[Lily]

I practically dress as my characters lol You don't want to see me when I'm writing.

[K.P.]

i even took up japanese fencing and other martial arts, spoke to shinto priests and studied with some onmyoji, and even stayed at a buddhist temple and worked on their organic veggie farm when my car broke down in the mountians. :D it was a crazy adventure, ALL FOR RESEARCH!

[Lily]

That's the way to do it :)

[K.P.]

Lily wrote: "That's the way to do it :)"

always! XD

[Stuart]

If you do research you might as well go all the way. No half-arsed stuff is good enough.

[K.P.]

Stuart wrote: "If you do research you might as well go all the way. No half-arsed stuff is good enough."

right on!

[Stuart]

K.P. wrote: "Stuart wrote: "If you do research you might as well go all the way. No half-arsed stuff is good enough."

right on!"

I think that's worth a thread all on it's own...

[Virginia]

Heck, research can mean tax deductible holiday. :-D

[Lily]

Go ahead and start one lol

[Sara]

I hate it when authors use what is considered common knowledge without double checking. I've mentioned this in another thread but the reality is it takes a minute to cross check your facts. Same goes for reposting crap on things like facebook - check to make sure it's true before spreading crap.

[Lily]

I'm going to be brutally honest. For those who are ignorant, it won't occur to them to double-check facts, because, well, they're ignorant. If they firmly believe something as horrible as all people with Down's Syndrome should be institutionalized for life, that might come across as lack of research, but sometimes the writer really is that much of an idiot.

[Ed]

I love to research and find things out. I agree that knowing why is worthless without knowing how. Also, nothing ruins a book faster than a half-assed explanation of how something works. I wrote a scene that called for a dialogue between a medical examiner and a detective during the autopsy. I wrote about what the M.E. found but thought it lacked a "real" look to it. I looked through about a dozen autopsy reports till I found one that fit my murder. Then I just substituted names, ages and stuff and a few minor things and wow...a realistic autopsy dialogue. What I wrote wasn't bad but filling in the behind-the-dialogue with real facts brought the scene to a whole new level.

[Lily]

Research goes a long way :)

I had to join a gun club. I live in a country with gun control, so it was the only way. Fantastic experience and it paid off in my writing.

[J.S.]

If you wanna write what you know, then that's fair do's- do it, and do it best you can with all your passion. If you wanna write what you don't know, do your homework and change that 'don't know' factor.

Luckily, I went to a school big on academics and my English teacher was a hugely positive influence on me. Very encouraging. I didn't suffer half so much with insecurity in my writing skill then as I do now :/ Anyways...

I figure it's possible to write whatever stokes your fire as long as you're willing to put the work in to get it accurate and relevant.

[Martyn]

Ken wrote: "http://bigthink.com/think-tank/write-..."

Why didn't anybody tell me before I killed all those people to know what it's like to be an assassin?

[Jim]

There are topics that can be grasped well enough through research, observation and study to write a fairly accurate and realistic portrayal.

However, I believe that there are others that are extremely difficult, if not impossible, for all but a very talented and skilled writer to adequately portray without having actually experienced them personally.

Examples: Giving birth, actual combat, starvation, torture, and extreme prejudice to name a few.

[Lily]

A part of me, probably Miss Self-Doubt who hates classism, wants to argue, rant, and rave, that of course anyone can write anything if the author is willing to step out of their own skin and accept new experiences. If that wasn't true, all my endless hours of research would be for nothing, my writing would be crap, and wouldn't even know it.

Then the more humble part of me, who's inclined to blushing and dismissing compliments, feels a bit shy to admit that I take great pleasure in writing subject matters that I haven't directly experienced. That part of me wonders, why am I alone in this? I can't be the only one.

Combine those two parts, and all I want to do is advocate that you can't know until you try, and there's no harm in trying. At worse, you've gained a new experience, and that's not so bad.

[Martyn]

Jim wrote: "However, I believe that there are others that are extremely difficult, if not impossible, for all but a very talented and skilled writer to adequately portray without having actually experienced them personally.

Examples: Giving birth, actual combat, starvation, torture, and extreme prejudice to name a few."

How about blindness? I write part of my novels from the perspective of a blind person, but even blind and visually impaired people think that aspect of my work is flawless.

[Jim]

Martyn (a.k.a. M'sieur Sang Froid) wrote: "Jim wrote: "However, I believe that there are others that are extremely difficult, if not impossible, for all but a very talented and skilled writer to adequately portray without having actually ex..."

One can simulate blindness by closing one's eyes or wearing a blindfold for a prolonged period. A simulation is never 100% comparable to the real thing, but it may come close.

Consulting with and inviting input from someone who has actually experienced the situation being described can help an author be as accurate as possible.

Note that I did not entirely dismiss the possibility of an author being able to effectively portray situations that they themselves have never actually experienced. There is often an exception to every rule.

[Lily]

Well said, Keshena.

[Amber]

What you know can be what you have researched in depth through reading and interviews. I like to think Martyn has never killed anyone.

I have an Australian character in Shaman's Blues and I did a lot of research to get the slang and word choice right. My Aussie beta reader thought I was Australian and suggested I tone it down a little for American audiences.

If I write about my everyday experience I will stress and bore myself.

[Martyn]

Amber wrote: "What you know can be what you have researched in depth through reading and interviews. I like to think Martyn has never killed anyone ..."

I really hope so.

Anyway, if I'd write about my current life... I just wouldn't want to incriminate myself... Let's pretend I'm just a stay-at-home dad with two adorable children, pimping his wife out to an ICT firm where she rules nerds with an iron fist

The truth won't always set you free. *grin*

[James]

For me, the research is the best part of being a writer. For my latest novel, I spent a summer working at Yellowstone National Park so I could interview the park rangers and naturalists working in the park. It was a great experience, and now the facts in the story are accurate. Plus, I had a lot of fun.

[James]

Hi Keshena. It's a great feeling to have a mental picture of a place when you write a scene in a story. For me, it makes it so much easier when I'm writing.