The first lesson we typically learn as writers is to write what we know—good advice. After all, we want the reader to step easily into the story, sensing its truth and authenticity.
But that idea can also stifle a writer. A woman I was coaching told me she would only be able to write about her divorce. “I really don’t want to re-live it,” she said, “but it’s all I feel qualified to write about.”
First-hand experience may be a good approach to putting together a story, but it’s certainly not the only approach. Otherwise, how do we account for Shelley’s Frankenstein and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick? How do we make sense of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Tolkien’s The Hobbit or J. K.Rowling’s Harry Potter?
We can be pretty certain that Mary Shelley did not “know” anything about creating an eight-foot creature out of body parts. Melville never saw anyone ride a whale, and it is highly doubtful that Oscar Wilde knew of anyone who so completely defied the aging process.
Each of these writers took something—a world view, a moral or amoral ideology, some bits and pieces of life experience, big or small, a bit of mental whimsy—and by adding an ample dose of imagination and at least some degree of research, fashioned their classic masterpieces.
Mary Shelley had visited a gothic castle in Germany and had once heard of a man from an earlier century who used electro-stimulation to briefly enliven the muscles of the dead. Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote The Secret Garden, was a follower of Christian Science, which inspired her to create a story wherein positive thinking, kindness and gratefulness could lead to healing and happiness through Nature. In real life, there was no magical bird.
“What we know” is a wide open concept whose interpretation is not limited to some literal knowledge or experience on a grand or exotic scale, such as in Born Free. It can start with the old neighborhood, an odd or beloved relative, something that happened at the supermarket one day, an ironic twist, an unexpected blessing, a shocking turn-of-events, none of which has to have actually happened. Make it up.
Undoubtedly, we know a lot more than what we think we know. We don’t have to create a War and Peace or a Ben Hur to write a compelling story. We’ve all seen things and felt things. On at least some level, we’ve all likely experienced love, disappointment, thrills, anger, loss, grief, discovery—on and on. It’s the list of things life is made of, the very things readers want to find in good storytelling. The rest we can learn because, after all, the world is full of things that we can know.
When I wrote Jeremiah’s Orchard, which appears in The Saturday Evening Post Anthology of Great American Fiction, I knew nothing about apple orchards, the setting that’s central to the story. I started with Google (“Google it up,” I always say).The information I found there helped me generate a list of questions to ask an apple expert. Since my story takes place somewhere in the northeast, I contacted the New York State Apple Association and found a grower who was kind enough to chat with me by phone. I had all I needed to speak with authority on the subject, at least for a short story. Clearly, a novel would have required much more research.
Recently, someone who had read one of my books asked me how I know so much about flowers. “Did you study horticulture?” he asked. I explained that I know only as much as was in my novel. I had researched the names of flowers prevalent in gardens in the 1940s. It had taken me about half an hour to get what I needed.
I have written more than twenty stories, none of which I have lived. Yet, there is at least a part of me in every one. It’s a little like what Charles Schulz said about Peanuts: “In some way I am each of the characters.”
In my humble opinion, what we really need to know as writers are two little words: what if…. Then, we go do our research, as needed, and happily wrestle the thing into submission.
Marie Brack
Melville had worked on a whaling ship. Where in the story does anyone ride a whale?
Mary Flynn
Good point, Marie. I was referring loosely to the end of the story when Ahab is strapped to the whale and goes under.
Mary Flynn
Good point, Marie. I’m loosely referring to the end of the story, when Ahab is strapped to the whale and is pulled under.
Niki Kantzios
Good point. Why should anyone expect fiction to be the author’s life story?
Danielle Cook
Loved the article. The points you made reminded me of Memoirs of a Geisha. It was one of the best-selling books of the late 90’s that I read and loved.
This historical fiction book was written by a man who was not Japanese, it was not an actual memoir, and Arthur Golden was undoubtedly not a Geisha! It depicted universal truths of duty, ambition, sacrifice, and identity through the lens of a fictional Geisha while highlighting Japanese culture.
Although the book and subsequent movie generated a lot of criticism for cultural appropriation and incomplete depiction of authentic Japanese culture (a subject for another article) it was a fascinating and enjoyable book when viewed as fiction.
Mary Flynn
How interesting, Danielle. Thanks for sending this. Making things up is really what writers do, isn’t it?
Laurie Winslow Sargent
As a nonfiction writer, I often deliberately write about what I DON’T know. An article idea often comes from a question I have, & I figure many readers have the same question. On assignment once for Sons of Norway magazine (USA), I was asked to interview a Norwegian athlete in Norway (when I was on vacation there). It was before the Lillehammer Olympic Games. Her sport (ski-shooting) I knew nothing about. But after the athlete demonstrated it for me, I was able to describe her sport simply for my readers.
Mary Flynn
A wonderful example of going head on into something you may not know but CAN! Excellent. Thank you for sharing this, Laurie.
Laurie Winslow Sargent
What’s even more fun is that now, decades later, that athlete & I are Facebook friends! Her posts are in Norwegian, so I get practice translating them into English. Writing adventures birth interesting friendships! 😀 When I interviewed her at her home in Norway, it was on a farm where I saw her lambs in addition to her demonstrating her sport & showing me her trophies. Then when I later watched the Olympics on TV it was fun cheering her on.
Mary Flynn
Holy cow! Your story gets even more interesting. What a great adventure. I love how things like this progress. Wonderful!