It’s been my experience that when you try to write about something you don’t know, those who are ‘in the know’ spot it immediately. In this context, it’s vital to write from experience.
Immersion Is Better Than Imagination.
I have read several manuscripts written by my grandmother that prove this point. She grew up on a farm and never lived in a large city her entire life. I’m not even sure she ever saw the East Coast in her life. She knew rural life and small-town America.
Her stories are entertaining. Her characters vibrate with life. Yet, potions don’t ring true. She tried to write about things she didn’t know, and grammar corrections aren’t enough to hide that fact. My grandma’s imagination couldn’t hide her lack of immersion in the world in which she had placed her protagonist.
When she placed her characters in settings she knew, I’d find it hard to put the manuscript down. I waded through the other sections.
Learn from My Experience.
I’ve never worked in corporate America. After several botched efforts to move into writing for that sector, I’ve accepted that I don’t know the culture. My level of sophistication isn’t up to par with the corporate mindset I’ve encountered.
Yet, I’ve discovered there are exceptions. Much depends upon whether we’re looking at new money versus old. It impacts what the company is looking for. When I worked with Nastel Technologies, I found they responded to my down-to-earth, let’s make this practical approach to writing. It was part of their company culture.
I started out knowing nothing about their company or their technology. So in this sense, writing from what you know doesn’t apply. Gaining more knowledge is always possible.
What You Know Changes.
Writing from what you know is deeper than facts and concepts. It’s the framework from which your thinking springs—the way your background shapes your interpretation of the world around you, the collective experience which colors your perceptions.
This changes of course. I write today from a far broader experience than I did at 13 when the passion for writing first arose in my soul. At 22, I slipped away from writing because I didn’t think I knew enough from which to write. Maybe I fool myself that I know a bit more in my fifth decade. Yet, I am writing from what I know and helping those authors I coach to do the same.
