Thursday, February 17, 2011

Write What You Know

First - don't forget to enter my contest and check out my story in PLAYTHINGS OF THE GODS.

Okay - write what I know. That's why I constantly talk about vampires, werewolves and mermaids.

Allow me to clarify, see when you hear the old adage, "write what you know" it doesn't mean what you might think.

Not clear? Let's try it a different way. Say I'm writing a scene where a vampire lurks in the shadows waiting to attack our innocent MC. Does that mean I have to have experience being stalked by vampires to do the scene justice? Let's hope not.

What it really means (in my humble opinion) is that I have to have knowledge of what the character might be feeling in this situation. A deep and all consuming fear? Powerlessness perhaps? Well, heck - I know those! I bet you do too. The situation I was in when I felt these things might be different from the one my MC is in, maybe not even half as dramatic. But the raw emotions are the same. So that's the experience I draw on. It's important to be able to generalize your experiences and feelings enough to recreate them in your manuscript. This may sound pretty simple, obvious even, but sometimes it's difficult to see what's right in front of your nose.

A second relevant interpretation of "writing what you know" has more to do with NOT writing what you DON'T know. In other words, I have full license to create an entire new world with my own laws and customs and people. But if I plan on writing about a member of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, I better either have first hand knowledge of law and the court system, or do my homework! Because no matter how artistically you can weave a story from your imagination, there will be others out there that see right through it because they DO know.

So do your research. Please. If you choose an actual location for your setting, and you haven't been there, find out as much as you can about it. Example: I've used Google maps street view. I've also pretended to be shopping for a house and searched online for information about certain neighborhoods and schools. And all for a tiny part of a single paranormal manuscript. But I wanted to make it as believable as possible. I wanted to feel like I was really there with my characters. Never did I take the attitude that since one of my characters was a demon, I didn't need to make the rest of it realistic.*

How can I expect readers to become invested in my story and characters if they can't put aside reason, at least long enough to fully immerse in my story and world? It has to feel real no matter how fantastic it is. And knowing what you're talking about makes that hurdle a lot easier to tackle.

*Side-note here - don't go overboard. Meaning, find out as much as you can to make the picture in your head complete when writing, but only put in the details that are important to the story and characters. It can be a tricky balance to maintain.

18 comments:

  1. Great post--I use google street view and realty listings as well, because they help me visualize the setting. It's also pretty amazing what you can find with a simple google search--makes research a lot easier!

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  2. Google earth and the street view has been the best ever. I think it was created just for writers. Especially when you hover over a main street and it gives the names of businesses! Love it. And I agree it's writing what you know is about the emotion!

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  3. Wonderful post, writing what you know is always best. Inconsistencies come through in the writing if you don't. However, research helps to smooth over the areas that you may not know well to put the writer into character or a setting.

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  4. You're so right about doing your research! Thanks for the reminder--my WIP involves some research and sometimes it's tempting to fudge details a little in the name of "fiction."

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  5. Glad to see I'm not the only one who uses these tools! What did writers do before the internet? LOL

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  6. You know what scary...when you start to talk in real life as if your paranormal creature truly does exist! They become so real to me. But, you're absolutely right. It's the emotions and characters that have to ring true.

    And thanks Laura for the info about Google earth giving names of businesses if you hover! I didn't know that. Off to research!....

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  7. Susan - but that's a whole different situation, and what it means is your characters are coming to life. So good job!! :D

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  8. You're right, Lisa, when you say it's all about balance. Lots of research, but only the details or impressions drawn from those details need to go into the writing.

    One danger for me is that I love research and I can lose myself in it. When I look up after hours online or in the library I've learned a lot, but written very little that's new!

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  9. So true. When I wrote my military story I spent a lot of time researching the culture and maps of the base before even starting. The research was fun, and yes, I could easily get sidetracked while doing it. I've never caught an error in an author's book, but watching a firefighting movie with my husband is torture. He catches every wrong detail.

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  10. Good point about going with experiences we've had an extrapolating them.

    I'm writing a historical fantasy right now, good advice about Not writing what you DON't now. It's really scary writing about a place and time I've never been (Greece, AD 340). In my first draft I am doing a lot of extrapolating from experience! Next draft: sticking in realistic bits from research. Hopefully.

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  11. Ack, yes! The research is fun - but luckily the writing is (you thought I was gonna say "funner" didn't you?) Seriously though, it's a good idea to research first because if you goof and something pivotal hitches on that one thing... I hate having to restructure!

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  12. I agree. It's about using emotional details, and what you know (or learn) about how things/places/systems work, and using that to build your own world, which ends up coming to life in ways you could not predict. :)

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  13. Great post. The quality of verisimilitude is very important in fiction - even when the setting is an imagined world. I tend to get a little lost in research too. My WIP hasn't made much progress lately.

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  14. Kathy - I love it when the characters take on a life of their own and surprise me!

    Megan - Dont' let yourself get sidetracked too much! Sit down and force yourself to write (even if you think it's awful) for a half an hour. That usually helps me. :D

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  15. Great post as always, Lisa.

    What? You mean Stephanie Meyers didn't fall in love with a sparkly vampire and get attacked by a hotter looking vampire (at least in the movie)? :D

    For the sake of credibility, you definitely have to be careful with your story world, especially when it isn't based on fantasy.

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  16. Stina - ROFL I can't personally vouch for Stephanie's love life...

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  17. Great advice as always, Lisa. It's cool when research leads you somewhere you didn't know you were going. I love writing the way things SHOULD have been. Two words...High School.

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  18. This is great advice. I definitely need to use Google maps street view more often. What you said about recreating your experiences and emotions in your story reminds me of Donald Maass' speech at the Writer's Digest Conference last month. He gave us an exercise that had us do just that and it really helped me!

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