Once, I attended a panel at a World Science Fiction Convention where the writers were quite big names. They were all ladies, and while I won’t tell you who they were, they all had covers with Luis Royo artwork on them, which does not come cheap. Big name authors.
The focus of the panel was on writing what you know, but the four authors (along with each sitting behind a little fortress wall of her books, in case you wanted to buy one) had decided to focus on a very specific point to make. In essence, what they were saying was that unless you were, yourself, a person of Celtic extraction (for example), you must not consider yourself free to write in that mythology.
To put it politely, I disagreed.
Then what does it really mean–write what you know? Many of us would tend to wail, “But I don’t know anything!” I, myself, could be said to know only what a 21st century single mother without a job would know. Fairly limited area to put a story in, don’t you think?
But wait. I know more than that. I have dabbled in kaleidoscope crafting, in woodcraft, in hiking and mountains, in photography, in sketching, in editing and publishing and computers. I know something about those.
More than that, I’ve paid close attention to reading and study in areas of anthropology, evolution, brain function, linguistics, housebuilding, history, weaponry, animal care, and the list goes on. I know something about those too.
Even better than that… I care about a lot of things. Truth, honor, passion, beauty, right and wrong, the power of story, the power of myth, the power of fear and love. I know about those.
And here I am writing about other worlds, and putting ALL of those things in! What do I think I’m doing? Do I have the right to do that? Yes, I do. And my stories are stronger for it. They’re stronger for the research I’ve done, deepening the things I know. They’re stronger for the reading I’ve done, widening the paths my mind has walked. And they’re stronger for the living I’ve done, powering up the engine of my spirit that is always the driving force in my work.
So don’t just write what you think you know. Write what you’re passionate about, and learn what you can, and believe in your work. You have the right to do that.
Kathleen