"Write what you know" is a phrase that we've all heard, numerous times. I suspect it was initially tossed out, with a great deal of gruff impatience, so that new writers would sit their asses down and put some words onto paper. Yet somehow it's morphed into a mantra, as if the secret to writing the next bestseller is contained within those four words.
Believe it or not, I got the title for this post when I saw a dozen wild turkeys outside my kitchen window. (Here, let me hold your hand while I show you how I got from Point A to Point B. It'll make sense, I promise.)
I was washing dishes, and all of a sudden there was a parade of these creatures emerging from some nearby trees. I figured out the one in front, with the clump of what looks like raw steak hanging from his face, was the male. Maybe even an alpha male, although that term doesn't really exude sexiness when used for turkeys, does it? (Since I couldn't get him to sign a release, he's not in this photo.)
Anyway, it took me a minute to realize that the majority of these turkeys are probably the cute little yellow butterballs I saw in the front yard just a couple months ago. Boy have they matured, and so quickly. (Well, except for two of them that were pecking at each other, and flapping their wings furiously, making it obvious that sibling rivalry is alive and well in the animal kingdom.)
Watching the turkeys made me think of what I "know", and how that is actually a moving target, since I'm always accumulating new information and piecing it together with other stuff I've already learned. I knew nothing about wild turkeys until I moved to this residence a year ago. Now I discuss them with authority in my voice, like I'm prepping for a segment of Animal Planet.
In addition to my wealth of knowledge about New England wildlife, I also know things about the law, from when I was a lawyer. However, the day-to-day detail of working with courts and legislators is actually less compelling than a pack of wild turkeys appearing unexpectedly in my yard.
Write what I know? That stuff makes me yawn in my own face.
I'm more excited about Regency carriages, and Ducati motorcycles, and driving a vintage convertible to escape gun-wielding bad guys. I'm intrigued by all kinds of things I don't know yet, including the fashionable clothing my heroines wear and the luxurious houses my heroes live in. I am ecstatic about learning what my characters are used to seeing and doing on a daily basis, so I can use all of that information when I sit down to write their story.
So don't try to write about what you know. Write instead about the things that you find intriguing, exciting, or eye-poppingly inspiring. If it is something you know little or nothing about, go research it. Experience it. Discover what it is that makes your heart beat faster when you pursue it.
Then bring all of that to your story.
Write what you know NOW, based on your expeditions into the exciting unknown.
That's the story I want to read.
;-) Great pics! I see wild turkeys now and then, but never so many. I'm more likely to see wild quail, as chicks and then as grown ups. Sigh.
As for write what you know? Well, write what you can make up so it seems you actually know what you're writing about. That's me motto! And make sure it's something no one else could know about so no one can call you out about what you mucked up... No world rules but the ones I invent! Bwah ha ha!
Or write what you want to know about. What you're enthusiastic about, whether you know it inside and out or not. Or ride someone else's enthusiasm into a story you enjoy writing...
It's Monday, I'm one big bit of contrary-ness!
Posted by: Maureen | September 20, 2010 at 02:41 AM
Ack, my comment got stolen! I'll have to see if I can do it again from memory. LOL
Maureen, this is the place for contrary-ness -- I applaud it and I encourage it. :)
I like your plan to make up your own world, since it does make it easier to decide how it should work.
And I didn't have a pic of all the wild turkeys at once -- they kept spreading out and I couldn't get them to cooperate. They are WILD, after all. LOL
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 20, 2010 at 09:35 AM
Love that picture too! And that comment of not getting the release from the male turkey cracked me up. LOL
I totally agree. Writing what I don't know, but excites me, is a much more productive experience. Frustrating, but productive. I know I will want to get back to it and learn more. Also, in my experience, when I've started out writing "what I know" it doesn't stay that way for long. Something unusual (paranormal even) is bound to happen out of the blue so I guess that's my mind's way of saying it's had enough with what I know! LOL
Posted by: Melissa | September 20, 2010 at 09:37 AM
Melissa, if you could have seen me leaning over the kitchen sink, hanging the camera out the window, and trying not to startle them - LOL. I wish I could have run around and taken the pic from outside, but I know they would have run.
I'm like you - I might START writing something I know, but it ALWAYS veers into something that's going to require research. Which is when I realized, "Hey, I think my brain is doing this deliberately!" So I guess we just have to stick with the stuff that excites our brains. :)
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 20, 2010 at 09:51 AM
I remember reading someone say recently, "Write what you want to know." That resonated with me. Great pics!
Posted by: Liz Fichera | September 20, 2010 at 12:08 PM
Liz, that is a good one! I think that's what motivates us sometimes. Or, if nothing else, it justifies us researching different topics. LOL
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 20, 2010 at 12:21 PM
Wonderful advice! I'll take it! I've become an expert on WWII airplanes, not that i ever think i'll fly one. But i have some characters who do!
Thanks, Donna :)
Posted by: Tracy Roper | September 20, 2010 at 02:56 PM
Tracy, that sounds so cool -- WWII airplanes. I went to an air show about a month ago, because I had a scene in mind for some characters. I took some pics -- they even had a biplane, and brave souls were going UP in it (not me! LOL) It's always good to collect the info, even if you don't think you'll use, cuz you never know!
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 20, 2010 at 05:55 PM
Donna - what I know (also living here in New England) is that you don't want those turkeys adding your yard to their foraging routine. The novelty quickly wears off, they make a lot of noise - very early in the morning - and they are veritable pooping machines. My wife and I have spent many a meal hour discussing how to get rid of them, legally.
(FYI, at this time of year, the flock would be all males, which is why they fight. They also attack my car, or more accurately, their "rival" images reflected by the metalic black color.)
Posted by: Pete | September 21, 2010 at 06:58 AM
Pete, now I know a LOT more about these critters than before! That's really funny about attacking their rivals in the car image -- I guess I didn't think about them being so aggressive.
My "yard" is actually a big open space shared with a couple other houses, so I don't know that we'll be able to prevent them foraging here. Mmm. Sounds like trying to outsmart the Roadrunner. LOL
Thanks for adding all the great info to my turkey knowledge base tho!
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 21, 2010 at 09:33 AM
No one ever tells an actor to "act what you know". They get to learn all kinds of things, how to fly a plane or race a car or sail a boat. They don't know it going in, but afterward they look like experts.
That should get to apply for writers as well.
But when I think of what you know, I think of life experiences and emotions. My heroine is a teacher, which I've never been and don't want to be. But she's also a single mother who dealt with a cheating ex and has trust issues. THAT, I know. :)
Posted by: Terri Osburn | September 21, 2010 at 01:42 PM
Hey, I got to comment without the little secret code. Ha!
Posted by: Terri Osburn | September 21, 2010 at 01:43 PM
Oooh, Terri, great analogy with the actor thing! You're right, they get to learn all this great stuff, AND they talk about all the time they spent training and learning -- it definitely SHOULD apply to writers. (I'm applying it from now on!)
And I agree wholeheartedly with life experiences and emotions being really what is "write what you know". I'm writing a book about an unexpected breakup, because I have experienced that -- but not in the way it happens in the book, and I only WISH the outcome in real life was like in the book! LOL
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 21, 2010 at 05:16 PM
Oh, and I took off the code in the hopes it might help people who have told me they can't post a comment. I don't know if it's helping, but it's less work for us now!
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 21, 2010 at 05:17 PM
Read your post with great interest and agreement. I even wrote on the same subject on my own blog a few weeks ago. The researching is wonderfully enriching and gives veracity to the scenes and locations. If I were a wealthy man, I would personally visit and experience the places but Wikipedia does a boffo job of digging the dirt and will have to do until my ship comes in. Hmmm. What kind of ship? Think I'll look into that...
Posted by: Alex Wilson | September 22, 2010 at 03:42 PM
Alex, thanks for stopping by! I enjoyed reading your blog as well. :)
And I wouldn't mind my very own "research ship" so I could travel to a variety of places for my books. In fact, I wonder if I might end up with different plots if I researched a place FIRST. I'd like to test that theory!
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 22, 2010 at 04:55 PM
I've tried to write what I must and it never works out. As you say, I want to yawn in my own face. ;)
LOL about the male turkey. As for the animal kingdom at work, if you doubt the pecking order, just wait in line for a Halo game release.
Posted by: Jan O'Hara | September 23, 2010 at 09:53 AM
Jan, maybe writing what we already know irritates the "inner contrarian", who insists on us being excited about something else. LOL I don't think I've had a book yet where I didn't have something new to research!
LOL about the Halo game release and the pecking order.
And yesterday a male turkey developed a crush on my neighbor's shiny SUV. LOL I hope the poor animal wasn't too crushed when the car didn't respond to his mating overtures!
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 23, 2010 at 10:10 AM