What Does It Mean To Write What You Know?

You see this advice listed all the time on blogs about how to be a better writer, but sometimes they leave the explanation short or leave it out altogether. 

Does it mean that women can only write female characters and men can only write males? Or does it mean that in order to write about something the writer should have lived through it themselves?

No, but also a little bit yes. 

What Does it Mean to Write What You Know?

Emotional Meaning 

In its most basic meaning writing what you know means writing things that you have experienced from an emotional viewpoint.

If you're writing a character experiencing overwhelming fear, excitement, disappointment, or any other emotion you should be drawing from your own personal experiences to help you portray this feeling to the reader instead of saying a line such as, "Sarah was disappointed." 

Sarah should be lowering her head or tears could be pricking at the corner of her eyes. Writers should never be telling their readers what their charters are feeling it should always be shown through actions. Remember a time when you felt the same emotion as your character, what did you do?

If you were angry did you clench your teeth or ball your hands into fists? If you were sad did you drag your feet, sniffle, or have your lips start to tremble? 

Write what you know and rely on your own experiences with your emotions. 

Does this mean that if you are writing a character whose significant other was brutally murdered mean that you can't write about what it feels like because this had never happened to you? 

No, and just because you haven't experienced this exact situation doesn't mean you haven't felt similar emotions such as grief at the loss of a family member or even a pet. 

Situational Meaning 

Another way in which writers are told to write what they know means not to write about something without knowing what they are talking about.

If my main character is an electrician and I have a scene where he is wiring up a house, I should at least have a basic understanding of the process before I try to put it in writing. I don't have to go out and get the hands-on experience of being an electrician, but it won't hurt to talk to a local one, ask around in some online forms, or just do a bit of research. 

Those who aren't electricians may not notice the mistakes I made, but those that are, are going to be taken out of the story and probably will be angry at me for the lack of attention to detail this shows in my writing. 

If your character is from a small town, but you've only ever lived in a big city it may be hard for you to portray the intricacies of small-town life or vice versa. Your reader is looking for an immersive experience when they read your story and if they are taken out every time something doesn't match up then the chance of them picking up your next book is probably slim to none.

For example, I am from just outside of Boston. Born and raised my whole life. I first went to college at UMass Boston and I worked at a gift shop in the heart of the tourist trap of the city. I once read a book we carried (only for a short time) in which the main character lived in Boston, but took a ferry from the harbor to New York, and it only took her an hour to get there - I'm going to give you a hint… you can't even fly from Boston to New York in an hour. I immediately no longer cared about the story and instead started to only notice everything this author got wrong about Boston. I couldn't stop complaining about how the author must have never even stepped foot into Boston or looked at a map of it before deciding to set her story there because no, you can not walk from Boston to Cape Cod like it's right down the street.

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Writing what you know is a simple way of saying make sure you know what you're writing before you write it and make sure you are giving life to the emotions of your character in feelings and actions instead of just words. It's an easy way to make your reader feel surrounded by your story and connect with your characters on a personal level. 

Best of luck and keep writing. 

With love, 

B.K. xo

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