“Write what you know” is one of the most common and misleading pieces of advice given to writers. It is often taken to mean that your writing should stick close to your own life and first-hand experiences. It sounds like good common sense – a way to avoid making and idiot of yourself and bring realism to your work. But, in the words of Admiral Akbar, it’s a trap.
Writing what you know is intended to make your writing believable. You were a police officer, so your story about a police officer will ring true. Straying too far from what you know threatens inauthenticity, and readers disengaging because what you are writing isn’t true.
Unfortunately, this interpretation of “write what you know” misses an essential fact about all good writing. Good writing is about discovery and imagination. If you only write what you know, your stories will be flat, sad, and uninteresting – because you have discovered nothing and underused your imagination. So, what do we do if we can’t just write what we know?
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Good stories don’t happen by accident.
I have the privilege of reading a great many original scripts, as well as beta reading novels, and have seen far too many writers who blither ahead with half an idea and not much thought until they run out of words and stop. You can write a novel like this (and you can write a successful novel like this), but unless you’ve been incredibly lucky your editorial process is going to be a total nightmare.
Instead of trying to write a good novel by accident, it is essential that you include an element of analysis to help you get from beginning to end: from question to answer, essentialy. You have to earn your ending.
Wow, that was a posh opening. Let’s try again.
Ever got to the end of a story and thought “bouf”, then instantly forgotten the book. There’s a reason why this happens. In this article I’m going to explain why.
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How On Earth Did We Make a Radio Series – And How Can You Do It As Well?
The last episode of our 5-part sci-fi comedy Space Station Zeta released yesterday! This is a big deal for us, and I hope you’ll check it out. In this article I’ll talk about how we did it and how you can write your own – how to develop the initial idea, how writing a series is different from a one off, how to record your own series and the pros and cons of a series compared to one off plays.
Before that, you really should listen to the plays – first, there are major spoilers in the article, second, it’s funny, I promise! So here it is: Space Station Zeta, All Five Episodes, about intelligence, love, and Chairman of the Federation Ronald Dump. Once you’ve listened, come back after the break to find out how to do it yourself.
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A lot of people scoff at Science Fiction. They think it’s all spaceships and silly robots.[i] But writing Science Fiction can make you a better writer, because it encourages you to consider elements of your work that are more easily ignored when writing straight fiction or other genres. This article, which is adapted from an email I sent to the writing team developing next seasons productions for Little Wonder Radio Plays, describes three key reasons why you should try Science Fiction to become a better writer.
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Let’s talk about sex.
Who we are and how we feel about things drives what we write. Narrative perspective isn’t just about character point of view and verb construction, it’s about the author sees the world.
This is particularly important when we write about gender and sex. Our sexuality can empower our stories, creating vibrancy, passion and authenticity. But it can also lead to bad writing, dreadful stereotypes and hackneyed characterisation.
To show you what I mean I’m going to share a series of my own drawings, based on images from Frank Miller’s marvellous Sin City graphic novels. I will use them to demonstrate a technique that will help you to shake up your own biases, and energise your stories and characters.
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