Write What You Know -- Unless Your Life is Boring

Writing Advice

Writing advice is something writers try to give each other constantly. Like middle-aged women in a book club talking about their weight loss regiments, writers love to share what works for them. Or lies they tell others and believe themselves order to feel more productive. I want to come out right now and admit that not only am I guilty of the writing crimes, but I can hash it out with the harshest of housewives about how many skinless chicken breasts I eat in a week.

On average it's five. But that's when I haven't swallowed a whole pizza in some sort of childish state of depression . . . Or as a reward for a mundane task . . . Or because I rented The Wolverine tonight and wasn't even hungry but just needed something to do with my hands and mouth (which gets me in more trouble than you'd think *wink wink).

But all joking aside, at least for a few sentences, I just wanted to trash talk the piece of advice that I hear the most. Do I hate the piece of advice? No, in fact there's some truth in it, but when people hold it as gospel it kind of puts writing in a bad light.

"Write what you know."

. . .

That's it! We solved it! Writing is done. Killed the creative process. Shut it down, Marv! Shut it all down!

. . .

Seriously though, that's kind of a crock of shit. Most people don't know anything. Hell, I recently researched group therapy sessions for three hours just to write a two page script scene. I didn't know anything about group therapy, I had to seek it out. If I had to write that scene based on what I already knew it'd be about people dog sitting, drinking iced coffee, and reading about giant Japanese robots. And while Mobile Suit Dog Watcher Coffee X might sell to a limited crowd, I just felt like it didn't fit the story I was trying to tell.

I'm a much bigger fan of the advice "write what you like." Because generally what you like is something you're going to know a lot about. Now you might think that dog watching and drinking iced coffee sounds like a riveting tale. We all know that iced coffee can contain way more caffeine depending on the brand, so that's ripe for adventure sewing!

I just thought I'd warn people about taking writing advice too seriously. When Stephen King says that you have to be willing to "kill your darlings," he doesn't mean get rid of every fantastic idea you have, just the ones that don't fit. And when people tell you to "write what you know," just remember that sometimes what you know is boring. Because honestly, compared to the lives of some of my characters, I'm a real watching paint dry kind of fellow.

My best advice -- just keep practicing!

Love,

Kenny Porter