Write What You Know, But Know Something Worth Writing
R ose Fox asked an important question the other day. “Have you ever noticed how many protagonists are writers? ‘Write what you know’ can be taken too far.” Rachelle Gardner also asked a question about what writers give up for writing. I don’t think the two are unrelated. Many people give up a great many things so that they can “become a writer.” Writing becomes a lifestyle. I think this is the wrong approach. If what you want to do is write about writers or librarians or bookstore owners, by all means give up what you are doing and become a “professional” writer. But there are plenty of books about writers out there. A better approach is to keep doing what you’re doing and write about what you are doing. You may not think you have time to do that, but think about it. You don’t have to do research on something you are already doing. That’s why people write so much about being writers. They know how to do that. But when a writer wants to writer about stuff that’s happening away from the...