Writing Rules: Should You Always “Write What You Know”?

How to avoid boring your readers following “what you know” writing rules

by E. J. Runyon

I just finished reading Anne’s March post about how you don’t always want to follow the rule that advises, ‘Write What You Know’.

It made me wonder how many writers understand that it’s only a ‘Writing Rule’ for getting folks started. Folks who long to write but don’t know where to start.

Call them Beginners, or Novices. Newbies, or maybe, You.

It’s a rule for folks to start with ‘what you know’ in their writing topics, settings, or type of characters to tell stories about. Like: A town like yours. High schoolers you may know of or know well. A job just like yours, but written for laughs.

But it’s much less of a rule for folks who aren’t struggling, who aren’t beginners with no idea where to begin. Not for those who are farther along the process. Who want to create, and know just what they want to try doing. Folks like, maybe, You.

No one thinks of that. We see the word ‘Rule’ And figure that one size fits all of us. (Ruth Harris warned us about this kind of thinking in her post about Writing Rules vs. Writing Guidelines.…Anne.)

One thing I found out early about rules is that I don’t need to follow all of them when the writing topic is creating. Sure, grammar and punctuation seems a lot more universal. But rules on What to Write? Nah.

Once I figured that out, I had a brand new way for attacking my writing.

The Writing Rules—Almost

I’m going to show you that today. The Non-rule, or Almost-rule of doing things. A new method, that for me, coupled with the normal way I work, brought up some much deeper and I think, more profound writing.

My normal method of writing works something like this:

• Think about stuff for a bit… then,
• Remember things: incidents, voices, images, opportunities (taken & lost)
• Start taking notes
• Ask a lot of ‘What if?’ questions
• Twist things that really happened beyond recognition
• Plan what I’ll write
• Start writing
• Stray way afar from my original plans you’d think my guide-dog had run off.
• Stick to and enhance some of my original plans
• Think about upcoming edits I’ll be doing once my first draft is done
• Manage to finish a full first draft.
• Think about stuff for a while…

Sense Memory

Today, we’ll just review that second item, Remembering Things.  For me it works like this:

I cast my mind back and remember:

A time I was at a mini-writer’s conference (an informal, 3-day weekend kind of get together, and after some ribbing from a fellow writer, bantering that got a bit too close to the bone in its teasing tone, I pointed a finger, leaned into the table we sat around, and heard myself saying, low:

 ‘Just because I’m smitten with you doesn’t mean I won’t kick your a**’.

That is a sense memory.

There’re two things I might do with this memory in my fiction.

Path #1: Write What You Know

I could take the ‘Writing What You Know’ road, and excavate this life-moment. Creating a thinly disguised scene that takes nearly all of its content from the actual event in my life. How we sat, Who I pointed at. Why we were there to begin with.

There’s nothing wrong with writing like this. But personally, I don’t think my life experiences are all that riveting. For me, when it comes to writing, sticking too closely to reality is a bore.

So I tend to take the other path: The ‘Using What You Know in Your Writing’ Path, (I coined that phrase).

Path #2:  Write Using What You Know

I spend some time thinking a bit on that line: ‘Just because I’m smitten with you doesn’t mean I won’t kick your…’

Then, I start taking notes. They are usually ‘What if?’ types of notes.

What if—

• This was said one gay guy to another?
• These two guys were 18 or 19 at the most?
• One of the guys was the big brother of a Main Character?
• She overheard this line, and it drove her to some type of action?
• She had a younger brother too, who was getting into drugs?
• These three kids were alone for some reason one summer?
• The Mom in this piece was sharp-tongued and a bit flawed?
• The middle sister in this story hated that she was the same way?
• What if ….? You can fill in your own.

For me, this list of writing possibilities will beat, hands down, any real-based story I can cull from my actual life.

There’s a novel in each of those ‘what ifs…?’ I listed.

True, I’m not a gay guy. I’m no longer 18. I was never a middle sister, between two brothers. There were seven siblings in my family, not three. Etc. etc.

But that butt kicking phrase is very real. I can use it, in my writing, because I know it.

Deciding to take this path–using memory of a feeling rather than the one that recounts a 3-day weekend with fellow writers, is a choice I’ve made as a writer about what I’ll create.

Anchoring a story upon a single remembered phrase is another.

Twisting the origin and use of the line is still another choice.

NOT using the line for the Main Character is something you may not have thought to do. So that’s another choice it’s possible to make.

If You Choose this Method.

If you’re using your sense memories in this not-literally manner, the possibilities in your writing are as endless as you allow them to be. And you’re nearly following the ‘Writing Rules’, trying it.

Look at this example, From my short story The Giant Rubber Gorilla.

I happened to be in the backseat of a car when both the driver and the front passenger got out to pump gas and go get snacks at the same time. Leaving me there, with the ringing of the car doors in my ears. Once they got back into the car I joked, “What am I, your crazy cousin you can ignore when you take her out for Sunday drives?” And Boom – I had a story idea.

But the places I was able to take that story once I started scribbling (on the back of envelopes and paper bags I begged from the passenger’s handbag, and when we stopped for lunch – the backs of our paper place mats in the coffee shop) were far from anything in my life. I really let my imagination fill the motivations, reactions, and actions of this trio of characters.

Think of that when you have an idea, and feel ready to write. Ask yourself how far from your initial brainstorm you can take your work. Even if you take the work far afield of its original spark, you don’t need to stay where it takes you. But consider how shallow your imagination might remain if you’ve never experienced having ventured there.

What About Characters NOT Like Me? Do I Use a Template?

Now you’re probably asking:

“But, what about characters, ones not like me? How do I do that? A Template, right? Use one of them?”

Here’s my take on templates, and the idea that you must have one to build a character.

Novices are encouraged to build Character Templates. These tools help novices get a grip on the facts about who they are writing about. But when is knowing facts building a character?

They help a lot, but they aren’t the end-all of knowing your character, because lot of times when you are working with a character template, you’re basically, often filling in your own preferences to all those questions. Sad. But too often true.

All those template answers aren’t always what gets the story going. They all may have little to do with your Character’s story at all. So much for that rule of begin with a character inventory.

Using Character “What-Ifs”

Go further, once you finish with a character templates, (or skipped it completely) consider building yourself a Question template: questions about your character’s “what-ifs?”– the things that are going to get you from one scene to the next. Things that have to do with her predicament. The things that will bring something concrete to your plot and story telling

Here’s some samples “What if?” questions to get your scenes going:

What if—

• The character who never cries is suddenly faced with a situation where tears come? What will she do? Or vice versa, where she doesn’t cry but usually is all weepy?
• Someone  knows she’s been awful but can’t stop herself, how would she feel about not stopping, knowing she’s wrong?
• A character loves somebody – how can she show it never using words?
• She has stood up for herself, but because of it all hell’s broken loose and now how would she now react to this new dire situation?

You can create as many of these as you can figure out.

A Writing Buddy Can Help.

You can also build them for a writing buddy and each of you share each others’ list so that you’re not writing from your own “what-ifs?”.

What actions or reactions would your characters have to situations like these?

• Someone refused to make any more eye-contact.
• A female giggles high, the way some ladies’ do.
• While walking on a city street, the new smell wafts up from an open car window.
• A dog trots up and sniffs at a character’s leg.
• A waiter drops a coffee pot or tray.
• The smell of chili cheese fries invades a space.
• The radio/TV suddenly dies, and the room is silent.

Each of those above is a scene-starter in itself to push a story forward. Where do you think this kind of character Alt-template will take your story?

Hope these rebellious ideas of Not Following Writing Rules helps someone, somewhere.

by E. J. Runyon (@EJRunyon) April 14th, 2019

What about you, scriveners? Do you Write What You Know? Do you follow the Writing Rules? Which writing rules do you prefer not to follow? Do you have any questions for E. J. as a writing coach?

Central Coasters! Let’s Talk! An Afternoon with Central Coast Mystery Authors. Three Central Coast mystery authors, Anne R. Allen, Sue McGinty, and Victoria Heckman—with the help of Audible book narrator CS Perryess—will present an afternoon of reader’s theater for mystery lovers. They’ll be featuring scenes from their novels, which are mostly set on the Central Coast.  Anne will also lead a discussion of the perennial appeal of the mystery story and talk about its origins and ever-expanding subgenres.​ Friday, April 26th at 1:00 PM at the Cayucos Public Library.  

And Ruth and I would appreciate a vote in the Annual Blogger’s Bash Contest 

E. J. Runyon

E.J. Runyon is a novelist and short story writer, as of 2019 you can read her 2 Literary Fiction novels, 1 novella, and a short story collection. And in her Non-fiction, she’s got 2 writing guides out, ‘Tell Me (How to Write) A Story’ & ‘5 Ways of Thinking to Turn Your Writing World Around’.

She runs the writer’s website, Bridge to Story, and coaches writers, from around the globe, online. Spring sessions are still available. Contact her at ejrunyon@bridgetostory.com

Following is another novel & writing guide due out in 2020.

 

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Featured image: Woman Before the Mirror by Frans Van Mieris. Note: Some of this text was posted in a bit different manner on EJ’s old WordPress blog. Featured image: Franz van Mieris–Woman Before the Mirror.