We’ve all heard it before. There is this timeless advice that’s always given to writers. It sounds like this: Write what you know.
This advice is a little confusing. Should you only write what you know? Does that mean I have to always write from the perspective of a white female who fought her way through eating disorders and brain health issues and a father hole that nearly ate her alive? What does writing what you know even mean?
Well, “write what you know” means something different to me. Writing what I know means the whole world is open to me. Because if I don’t know it right now, I can learn it.
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Write what you know is simplistic advice, but the followup that people don’t often tell you is that you have the ability to know so much more than what you have lived. When we’re constantly learning, we can know a whole lot. I am curious about so many things in this world—right now those things happen to be extinct animals and fabled monsters and women who have made their mark in science. In the past, I’ve been curious about autism and the history of public libraries and the most famous haunted houses in the world.
My curiosity drives my learning. When I find myself insatiably curious about a particular topic—ghosts, say—I will research it to the ground. I learn as I research. And I know as I learn (I know that sounds funny. But it’s true.).
There are many, many ways we can learn what we need to know in order to write what we know. Some of my favorites include the following:
1. Take a trip.
My kids and I have been visiting railroad tracks every time we go on a trip. We are fascinated by railroad tracks. I have a great-grandfather who grew up on a railroad car, and I plan to write a story about him soon. But in order to do that, I have to know the tracks. I have to touch them and feel the cool metal beneath my fingertips. I have to walk their uneven path. I have to climb up the rocks that my great-grandfather would have climbed as a child.
Recently I returned to my high school track, which was also my middle school track, because I’m from a tiny town where we all share resources. I was writing the rough draft of a story about a girl who ran the 400-meter-dash. I wanted to run it again, to see what it was like. I had run it in middle school and a couple of times in high school, but I wanted to experience it, again, for myself, so I would have an accurate way to describe the way the body turns to mush when on the last stretch before the finish line.
This is how you learn and know. Travel and experience is one of the most enjoyable forms of learning.
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2. Talk to people.
This may stem from my past in journalism, but I absolutely love sitting across the table from another person and listening to their story. I love collecting information from the interesting people I meet. I enjoy hearing about history from a person who has actually lived it. In college, I did an oral history of a Vietnam veteran, and it was one of the most enjoyable projects I’ve ever done.
If I find myself obsessed with World War II, I’m going to find someone who lived through it and listen to his or her stories. If I want to know what it was like raising a blind child, I’m going to find someone who did. If I can’t write another page of my story without knowing what it’s like living on the streets, I’m going to head downtown and talk to the homeless of my city.
People can help us learn and know.
3. Read books.
Books are fantastic resources for going deeper into any subject. I know we have google now, and you can find anything online, but if you want to learn the nuances of whatever subject you’re writing about, a book is the better way to go. The Internet only has so many resources, and I know google is trying to become the search engine of the world by including all the information from books you would ever need, but there is nothing like diving into a long book to get the whole and complete story. Sure it takes a while. But you will retain that information and have it at your fingertips any time you decide to write what you know.
Pursue knowledge, and writing what you know is not a limit at all. It’s an endless possibility.
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