Write "what you know"

[Mel]

One of my English teachers once gave me the most valuable piece of advice that any writer should possess. She told me that a good writer writes what they know and I've taken that advice to heart and have to say that it is very helpful. Experience in life is essential. Something happens to you, you overcome it, and hopefully learn from it and thus become a better person or a stronger person from it.

One of the reason why many of us look back on some of the things we've written at 16 or 17 (and if you are that age now I'm telling you it will happen) is the fact that at that age many of us really have not lived yet. How can I write what I know you may ask? Or maybe many of you feel that your own personal experiences might not be interesting enough for a story. You're wrong. If there has been something in your life: a death of a family member, a struggle with depression, a bitter divorce etc... that has impacted your life, then there you go! You have some grounds for a story. Obviously if you're writing about somebody who has a cancer and you have never seen cancer firsthand then your story is not going to be as nearly as effective than that of somebody who has been impacted by cancer.

I think my writing has vastly improved when I started putting some of my personal emotions, feelings, and characteristics into my characters. I try to constantly ask myself, what would I do in this situation? For instance, right now in life I am a little uncertain with my future and where I want to go career wise, so obviously my main character is going through that herself. Whenever something happens to me, I make note of it and draw from it when I need to in a story. Example: My main character is drinking and supposed to be kinda tipsy. I'm going to think back to how I felt the last time I was drinking.

Since fan fiction revolves a lot around love and romance and many writers have never experienced a romantic relationship, it does not mean that you cannot effectively write a love story just because you have never experinced love. Draw experiences from those around you. Oftentimes I'll write about a situation that may have happened to a close friend or to a family member. Granted, there is not as much of a personal connection as if it really happened to you, but there will be more of a connection than if you were writing about something that you were totally clueless about.

Finally, if you are forced to write about something that you, yourself don't know much about, don't get too detailed. In those situations keep it as simple as possible. When in doubt you can always ask somebody (one of is maybe?) or you can try to look it up yourself.

That's about it! Hope my advice helps you!

[RokofAges75]

I just have another tip to add... if you're writing something you don't know much about, RESEARCH! Find out about it! It's not as good as actually going through it yourself, but research is probably the next best thing. This can involve everything from just searching online to asking people who HAVE experienced what you're writing about. Sometimes you can have the best of both if you find some personal websites/journals of people with experience and info. Obviously, it's not as easy to research things like what it feels like to be in love, opposed to more straightforward topics, such as medical conditions, places, etc. But research can help add a lot of much-needed believability to your story if you're going to tackle issues you don't know much about, so do it.

Personally, I agree, it's best if you can write what you know because that will help you keep the story realistic, but sometimes it's hard, especially if you're young, without a lot of life experiences yet, and want to write a story catered to people your age or older that is meaningful. I started writing fanfic when I was 14 (I'm 21 now), so I can definitely relate to going back to my old stories and realizing I knew nothing when I wrote them LOL. At the same time, I write a lot of angst and drama, and my real life just isn't that drama-packed, thankfully LOL, so I'm almost always writing about things I've never actually been through... but I research a lot to make sure what I'm writing is believable, and based on reader comments, it's worked out pretty well for me.

[estrelleta]

I agree, but sometimes it also helps to put yourself in the position your character is in, and imagine how you would feel, what you would do, etc.