Write What You Know

I remember someone telling me that a writer should write what they know. I wondered if that meant I should throw away all the notes for manuscripts that didn't take place in my hometown. Or, scrub any characters who had successful professional careers. I mean, I was just a small town Mom.

Just! Saying that fires up rebellion within me. It still bothers me that I ever felt that way. I'm not "just" anything. To steal a phrase, "I'm all I can be." My writing allows that. I can go to foreign lands, I can be a cop or a nun. . .

Okay, maybe not me exactly, but I have had characters that were. And since every character is a part of me, for a short time I was a cop, a nun, even a prostitute. Get your mind out of the gutter! We are talking fiction.

I'd also had some good advice given to me, that said my characters needed to be sympathetic. Did that mean my readers had to feel sorry for them? I thought about it more, looking at the characters in the books I was reading, and realized I often felt like a kindred spirit with the heroine in the story. It was because I was able to relate to her on some level.

That did not mean I could be a doctor – I certainly lacked the training for that. But when the doctor was feeling drawn to a child, it didn't matter what her profession, I could relate to that. When the doctor found herself falling in love against all her carefully made plans, I could relate to that, too.

As for the doctor part: that brings me back to writing what one knows. Since I didn't have medical training, I had to do research. I even spoke to doctors. And after my story was written, I had a pro look at any questionable parts that might give away the fact that I didn't have a clue how to conduct brain surgery.

Ooops, I nearly gave away part of the plot for my next novel.

Back to the nun. I'm not even Catholic, but I do have friends who are. And they were able to give me insight, and interviews regarding certain aspects of my story. I learned that though you don't often see them anymore, there are still orders that wear full habits – remember The Singing Nun? You might be too young for that, but we'll just say, she wore the full, long black habit.

When a Priest read that I had a nun jumping from a plane, his words, as I recall, were, "It will probably take her a very long time to come down."

Sadly I'm giving away too many scenes from future novels. However, my hope is that by relating to my work, you will see that you can't be an expert in everything. But you can conduct research and know a little, and then interview an expert for the rest. The same research can be done for locations for your stories. Today the Internet can take you anywhere you want to go, or anywhere you want your plot take place.

Last, you give your characters the same heart and emotions, the dreams and hopes, the concerns and worries that any one of us might have. Why? Because we are also readers, and when we do read your work, we will see something in your characters that makes us empathize with them, and make us sympathetic to them.