What Do You Know?

with Sharon Burke

One of the first pieces of advice beginning writers receive is to write what they know.  At first glance, this idea sounds incredibly restrictive so I thought I’d explore it a little.

Author Nathan Englander believes “write what you know” is excellent advice, but sadly is often misunderstood. He argues it applies to emotions, not events. This makes sense to me as an aspiring romance author.  The characters in romantic novels experience wide ranging emotions with differing intensities: love, anger, jealousy, loss, happiness, fear, disgust. If you know what it feels like to be scared, then it should be easier to create plausible fear in your characters.

Marg Gilks an author of short stories and poetry argues “write what you know” applies to everything you feel, not just to emotions. “You know what your senses tell you, and other people share those sensations”.  I believe the best romantic novelists have an uncanny ability to take their readers on an emotional, highly sensory journey.  The romantic novels I enjoy the most capture my senses. I see and feel the sunlight and rain, hear the sounds of wind, running water and the tone of words spoken. I feel uncertainty, love, hope and turmoil just as the heroine and hero do.  I think this intensity of reader vicarious sensory experience makes romantic novels unique and special. The reader has the chance to develop a depth of empathy and connectedness that other genres struggle to match.

Fiction writers must be prepared to go beyond what they know. Valerie Parv stresses the importance of knowing your characters well and understanding their motivations. “You can’t write about real people unless you know them and understand why they do what they do.” She suggests many strategies to help with this including developing wide ranging interests, exploring both sides of a question and reading popular psychology books. I find popular psychology books tremendously helpful for “fleshing out” characters, and for matching their motivations and actions.

Finally, fiction writing by its very nature demands authors venture into the unknown.  The nybookeditors.com site states “We can’t limit ourselves to what we know. Instead, be open to what you want to know, what your characters know, and the great body of experiences some other writer before you has known.” I find this statement challenging, but tremendously exciting. Reading widely, and reflecting on ways in which romantic novels are constructed helps me to better understand the challenge of what I am attempting to do.

So where does that leave us?  I think we as romantic novelists utilise our sensory experiences and emotions within our writing. We should never be afraid to let our imaginations lead us on our writing journey. This is where some of the most fascinating parts of our profession lie. 

What do you think?  What does 'write what you know' mean to you?

I love to love…relationships as so important.

I love to laugh…the comedy in everyday life never ceases to amaze me.

I love to learn…life has so much to offer.