Write What You Know

Write what you know. It’s sound advice, a good rule of thumb. Though creativity is crucial to memorable art, there are many reasons to root it in reality. The first one is simply that your firsthand knowledge will provide some realism. I believe I’ll have succeeded when somebody approaches me and tells me that my protagonist’s story resonates with them. Research is a wonderful thing; you should do some no matter how similar the story is to your life, but your firsthand experience will give it a noticeable depth. Another reason to ‘write what you know’ is that, in my humble opinion, specificity goes a long way. If you write something that is closer to your own experience without worrying about mass appeal, you’ll find that people will connect with it easier. Not everyone will relate to it, but the majority will admire its rawness.

Agreeing with this phrase, however, has confused things. My goal with this blog is to share the trials and tribulations of writing a novel, and this is a problem I haven’t heard other writers describe. While I’m trying to focus on getting the ‘vomit draft’ out, I’ve not been able to help myself from making revisions. My story involves many types of relationships and, as I meet more people, my perspective on them constantly shifts. I’m with my second boyfriend, going out more often, and going out of my way to meet more people. I’m also coming to understand the older figures in my life, nurturing healthy distance from my parents as I do so. Though my book has a teenage perspective, I still find myself needing to edit dynamics and arcs. Sometimes I’ll be in an interaction similar to one in my book and realise I should adopt its outcome. It’s probably something I ought to focus on less, but it has been a major obstacle for me, therefore worth sharing here.

Before I sign off, I want to address the lack of a family book club post. My life has been quite off-balance lately and, if it wasn’t already difficult enough with 3 adults in different working situations, we haven’t been able to co-ordinate meetings. I aim to post last month’s and this month’s together. The books are Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and Sour Grapes by Dan Rhodes, so if those interest you please keep an eye on this blog!

That’s it for this month. It’s another short n’ sweet progress update as I persevere with my art. I hope you enjoyed it!

P.S Happy Halloween! I hope you all got drunk with your friends, ate your weight in candy, and watched some really bloody movies.