Write What You Know
I'm sure we've all heard the phrase, "Write what you know." While this is almost always true, how do young authors write what they know? After all, not having as much general life experience as adults, we don't know much. (Sorry, kids, and I know this doesn't go for all of you.) This week, I'm going to explore the phrase "write what you know" and how it does and doesn't apply to teenage writers.
HOW IT APPLIES
Since teenagers usually aren't old enough to travel long distances without adult supervision, live alone, or pay their way in the world (again, I'm sure there are exceptions, but I doubt those exceptions are going to be reading this), by following the "write what you know" rule, their story's going to be incredibly limited. If teenagers were to write what they knew, we would have a plethora of stories about tentative, stereotypical relationships, mildly interesting school events, and annoying younger siblings. Boring, right?
Well...
There are a TON of books like that. They may not be amazing, but they're real novels and they do sell. I know what I'm talking about - I basically lived off of these types of books in my preteen years.
That isn't to say that you should go rushing off to write your autobiography in the form of a story. After all, it's not like there aren't other ways to write a story than following the "write what you know" rule (see below).
This rule should be followed in a few respects, though.
If you're a sheltered suburban kid, you really, really shouldn't try to write a story about a child's inner city life. In fact, you should avoid writing about situations relating to people's lives who are "less privledged" than you because you run the very real risk of coming across as racist, sexist, or in the best case scenario, ignorant. I've read stories about everything from bullying to homosexuality where I have felt disgusted by the way the authors phrase things - they make it so obvious that they've never lived through those events or even maybe known anyone who openly has. In this way, the rule "write what you know" is quite important.
HOW IT DOESN'T APPLY
It's not like teenagers haven't had ANY life experience - obviously; they're teenagers! They had to have lived through something! And even if they have lived a very sheltered life that couldn't make for an interesting story, nobody can be completely oblivious to the news.
That being said, news stories have to be negative and dramatic for viewers to be interested. I don't know if it's just me, but that sounds like a pretty good mixture for the beginning of a story!
Also, who said that these teenagers will be writing something realistic? If they've been surrounded by fantasy media for most of their lives, or even if they just have an overreactive imagination, teenagers could easily use either of those "life experiences" to write a kickass fantasy story.
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Therefore, teenagers should probably be careful while writing. Try to navigate through and around the "write what you know" rule by utilizing news stations, but also remembering that characters based off of your own life experiences are totally acceptable.
Someday, you'll have the life experience to write an even more in-depth story!
