Time and again you will receive the same creative writing advice; write what you know. In other words, write about things you encounter in your daily life. What better topic could you choose? Not everyone does the same job, grew up in your hometown, had your smart-alecky brother as a sibling or has had any of the same experiences you’ve had.
Who better to sell a story about these things than you? You already know the small details. And it’s precisely those small details that when woven into your fiction make for a believable read and a better story. But fiction is made up, you might say. Why do I need to add realism? While it’s true that creative writing is made up of make believe stories, a writer is asking his reader to believe his made up, make believe stories. You want your reader to suspend his belief in the real world for a while, get lost in your words, feel comfortable in your fictional world. You want your reader to believe the story that you’re telling them so that they will keep reading and hopefully enjoy it so much that they seek out other stories you’ve written. That is what will make you a saleable writer.
Write What You Know Writing
what you know doesn’t mean you can’t explore other things. If you’re a stay-at-home-mom, add a little spit-up to your mystery novel. If you’re a nurse, use proper medical terms in your short romance story . If you grew up near a beach, name the sea life residing there to add depth to your science fiction drabble. As far as your smart-alecky brother, I’d leave his name out of things, but you might want to relay one of the many pranks he pulled in high school for comedic relief in a horror tale. Giving your audience a little of the truth goes a long way in helping them accept your fiction. Mind you, I’m not suggesting that you fill your entire manuscript with boring facts and dull details, or even that you should tell everything you know about a subject, just because you can. What I’m proposing is that you add a sprinkle of authenticity to your fiction, a tidbit of information, here and there, to give your creative writing a feeling of reality that will help it burst alive. Write
What You Don’t Know Writing
what you know from life experience is the easiest way to go but it isn’t the only way to go. Let’s say you want your story’s hero to be an ex air force pilot but you’ve never even been on a plane, let alone met an air force pilot. Should that stop you. Absolutely not! There are other ways to write what you know. Researching any topic by reading, watching films or asking someone who has experienced whatever it is you want to write about are all good ways to learn to write what you know. Be inquisitive. Look for the little known facts. Educate yourself and ask the juicy questions to reveal information that when planted in your creative writing, will make it pop with enough truth to hook your reader’s attention. Double check anything you aren’t sure of to make sure all of your data is correct. One false factuality and you’ll have your reader second guessing everything, defeating your whole purpose. Give your reader a bit of realness, a taste of the truth, and they will feel secure in your world of fiction. They will trust you to take them places they’ve never been. Do it well and they’ll want to join you on your fictional voyages again, and again.
Let’s Review:
Use your own life experience to add truth to your fiction. Educate yourself and do research to learn details of the things you don’t already know.
FROM SQUIDDO.COM
