Mar 18
10 / 10
Mar 20
4d ago
DokiDokiTsuna
5d

Most of you probably wanna say "both". ^^ But if you wanna vote in this poll, you're gonna have to choose a side:

  • Experience
  • Understanding

22voters

For those of you who need some more context-- it's the question of whether it's better to "write what you know", or write stories about what you've managed to understand, even if you don't have firsthand knowledge of those experiences.

My vote is for Understanding...as I am a sci-fi-fantasy specialist, it kinda has to be. ^^; However, I do think experience is very important.
Like, you don't have to take "write what you know" literally, and forbid yourself from writing about any character or setting that can't be directly referenced from your own life. BUT, your stories will be stronger if some kind of personal experience is always at the heart.

Like, let's say you want to write a passionate love story between two young adults living in Canada-- you don't have to live in Canada, you don't have to have visited Canada, and you don't have to be a young adult. You don't have to have been in a romantic relationship; you don't even have to be personally inclined towards romance at all. All that is stuff you can research and understand if you really want to have it in your story.
It's the character arcs that should hinge on personal experience. When you're crafting these people's hopes and fears and desires and motivations, that is where you need to dig deep and look within yourself to find the emotional energy to guide the story.

Let's say one of the romantic partners is thinking about dropping out of university, because they don't feel like they're smart enough to finish-- when you were in school; how did you feel when you got a lower grade than you wanted? How do you feel when you can't measure up to your own expectations, or the expectations of others? What pressures make you feel small and stupid and unworthy; like a certain challenge isn't worth trying...? Channel that into your work.

To give another example, let's say the other partner is a wealthy snob who's used to getting everything they want immediately, and has to learn patience and compassion over the course of the story-- if you've ever been particularly privileged, how did you treat those who weren't as fortunate as you? If you've ever met someone with significantly more privilege than you; how did you feel you were treated? When do you struggle to show kindness to other people? When are you tempted to act selfishly, and how do you reflect on your behavior afterwards? What do you think it means to improve as a person, and adopt new moral ideas into your life...? Channel that into your work.

When your readers feel true connections with your characters through their emotional arcs, they will be much more willing to forgive the inevitable mistakes that arise from your inevitably imperfect research. Most of them will see a flawed story that still has heart and soul and can be enjoyed anyway, rather than a flawed story that should be ridiculed because the author clearly has no idea what they're talking about.

As a sci-fi-fantasy writer, this is basically the strategy I use to make sure my stories are compelling: the alien worlds and the lore and worldbuilding and magic systems are all secondary; if you hook the reader in with something recognizably human, a conflict or idea they can understand instantly, they will be more willing to wait for you to explain the rest. Heck, they may not even need you to explain the rest.
And because of that, I think it's a good strategy to keep in mind even when writing about more grounded, realistic settings. You may need to gain understanding to build the illusion of experience in a certain situation or location, but everyone already has the built-in experience of being a human being. Learn how to use it, and you'll automatically have the foundation of a great story. You'll be able to "write what you know" in the most fundamental way.

stiatent
5d

Yea I feel is a mix of both for me honestly
I end up checking experience by accident so guess I stuck there lol
but yea, Understanding especially when in RL we don't have superpowers etc but try to gather and understand of how to apply them in a believable manner in our works.

jwabeasley
5d

Sure, write what you know doesn't have to be so literal. It's better as a negative - don't write what you don't know. I once knew a guy who wanted to write a post apocalyptic story set in Russia - but literally his entire exposure to Russia and Russian culture at that point was the game Metro 2033. And no, he did NOT want to do any actual research, either. He didn't even know how Russian names were constructed, and no, he hadn't heard of Dostoyevsky.

I remember reading two novels about child soldiers in Africa, one an award winning work of experimental literary fiction by a western author, the other a narrativized autobiography by a former child soldier. The first one was decent, but the second one hit so much harder. The same with modern stories about 19th century slavery vs Frederick Douglass' autobiography or the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. I'm military, and the way veterans talk about the military and warfare is completely different to how civilians do, and even further from how civilians imagine veterans do.

Having experienced or witnessed the situation you're talking about firsthand can lend some real power to your prose, and it is true that experiencing some amount of suffering in your life will improve your art overall - those that know me well see a definite improvement in the quality of my artwork before and after a difficult period of my life, unrelated to the technical aspects of the work.

It's difficult to write emotional journeys that you are unfamiliar with. I recently had a writing mentee who was writing a wish-fulfillment story about a protagonist who goes from weak and nervous to strong and confident - but, having never experienced this transformation in their own life, they were utterly incapable of writing it convincingly. I'd have similar trouble writing honestly about SA, domestic violence, drug addictions, or living in a polycule. I'm just not able to speak from a place of understanding - anything I have to say is secondhand platitudes.

But hey, write what you know - you're an expert on dark age currency trading patterns? Great fodder for a fantasy novel about merchants. You've interviewed dozens of blue collar miners in Nevada? Go ahead and write that western about gold prospectors.

The flipside, don't write what you don't know - you've never read a fantasy novel in your life, maybe read some before you try and write one? (True story). Your knowledge of ancient Greece amounts to having watched 300 once while drunk five years ago? Maybe hold off on that epic iron age historical fiction until you've done some actual research.

Ordinaryaverageguy
5d

It'd be tough to write about a dragon or a neko if it had to be from experience. :wink:

Lensing
5d

You should write about what you haven´t experienced and don´t understand :smiley:
but I vote "understand" because I think that´s the case for most writers

AmysGames
5d

Understanding, if just because I consider my own life pretty boring to write about, lol.

That isn't to say I don't ever put any of myself into my characters, though. I don't usually do it intentionally, but there have been plenty of times where I'm writing character dialogue and I start thinking, "Oh, this is relatable, actually."

kyupol
5d

I voted experience. Because while experience and understanding tend to go hand in hand, there's just some things you'll never understand fully unless you've experienced it yourself. No matter how much you research and data grind into it.

moontokkym
5d

I said "experience" but what I mean more literally is "write from empathy when possible".

There are a lot of things I haven't lived, some thankfully, some less so, but from what I have lived I've got some experience of the thing.

I don't know what it's like to flee your country because of war, which is my MC's backstory. However I DO know what it feels like to be taken from a familiar country that feels like home and plopped into a foreign place where codes, language, culture and the way you are treated is totally different and the confusion, stress and loneliness becomes overwhelming as you try and learn on the fly. I also know what it's like to be in a situation where political fear and pressure make me want to run away and find somewhere else even if it's alien to me because of the crushing realisation that home isn't home anymore. I can imagine that the MC felt a good deal of those two things.

There are so many things where I'm not writing what I know, but I am writing from the feelings of a similar experience, I'm writing from empathy.
I don't know what it's like to be in an abusive household, I do know what it's like to be in an abusive work environment.
I don't know what it's like to get punched in the face, I do know what it's like to get your teeth knocked out by an umbrella.
I don't know what it's like to be directly targeted because of prejudice, but I do know what it's like to just exist and hear insults and demeaning jokes made about groups that I am a part of just less visibly.

Feelings are feelings no matter what caused them, and though it is a limit of some people's empathy that sometimes we can only empathise with something if we bring it closer to something we've lived, even if the feeling in question is something we've never known, it can be a good start.

Oriflamme
4d

The way I see it, you need understanding to write about something that understanding can come from research or experience. Understanding will come with experience but not the other way around.
I did manage the other way around once or twice, but that is because I ended up learning a lot about myself. I wanted to properly represent trans characters before figuring, before eventually figuring out, oh shit! that’s me.

cherrystark
4d

Just to start, I've never been a fan of the advice to "write what you know." It's super limiting for most writers.

I voted for "understanding." I think there's a point where you stop wanting stuff to be completely "accurate " and allow yourself creative liberties. A small town in rural Idaho isn't going to be that different from a small town in rural Alberta. If you've watched any US TV, you can probably figure out what life is like in New York City without ever stopping there. We all buy groceries, pay bills, and have to get from point A to point B. The rest, you can wing it. Knowing exactly how the local transportation system works won't going to make or break the story.

The rest, for me, is empathy, logic, and creativity.