Young Writers Society

I mean, when you are thirteen years old (almost fourteen lol) you don't really know all that much. I'm not saying your stupid, but it's sort of hard to write about something you've never done. Ex. Driving, high school, etc. So, the question is, with enough research and observation and all that, can you write something you haven't truly experianced, or does it sound unrealistic? (Sorry if this is confusing, I don't think I asked that question right)

Hello! Well, first off, welcome to the loverly YWS, oh loverly writerkid. I'm gyrfalcon, feel free to PM me with any questions ye can think of.

As to your question: my best story (or so I've been told) centers on a 30+ year old non-human male who's sold into slavery--obviously nothing there that I have personal experience with. What I think that saying is encouraging a writer to do is to draw from their own experiences to know more how a character feels or reacts. For instance, you've never gone to high school, but high schoolers, in general, have the same emotions as you do: they hurt, laugh, strive, get nervous, get excited, just like you do. It's a combination of imagination and built-up knowledge, just like all writing.

Hope that helped!

ello.
It depends on how well you adapt things, say you wanted to write about driving, well you can watch your parent or older brothers/sisters do it, then you can question them on how things feel and what all the special parts are.
I think its always good to experience things but its also fine to learn about them through other people.
If you did a thorough enough job of it you could make it work out fine

Hope I helped,
Gweny

They don't say write what you know because you HAVE to experience something to write about it. It just means that we understand and can relate better to things we experience, but that doesn't necissarily mean you can't write a great story about something thta never happened. Take fantasy writers; I doubt many of them have riden dragons or cast spells. If you can't experience something you want to write about, then familiarize yourself with it. Ask people who might have had the experience, do researchm read books by other authors.

really I just think they mean don't write about what you don't know. You're not going to write a book about a driving school when you've never driven, right? So long as you're not focusing yourself on something you can't 'feel' as being real, then you should be fine.

^_^ Keek!

I think the others have hit the nail on the head to be honest.

With that expression it just means write what you have felt I believe, so it's more relevant with emotions than with actual scenarios.

I'm currently writing about a pregnant teenager and pregnancy is something I have never experienced and don't really know anyone else who has. I've researched in so many ways and I still get stuff wrong - I'm learning.

Don't be afraid to attempt writing about something you haven't experienced; try to research and draw on the things you do know to improve it. Imagination is key, remember.

Alainna
xx

I think it's true to some degree, but of course not completely (i.e. the dragons and spells). I think it's probably a bad idea to write about people who are MUCH older than you, but okay if they're a little bit older. In my opinion, if you're in middle school, you can go ahead and write about high schoolers, but probably not about forty-year-olds. I also think it's not the greatest idea to write about places you've never been...like if you're writing about New York and you've never been there, your writing probably isn't going to turn out as realistic and such as the writing of someone who was raised there.

First of all, you said it's hard for 13-14 year olds to write about hgh school, but I started high school when I was 12, which is only a year younger thn most.

As for other things... I've written about abuse and rape, yet those things have never happened to me Instead I spend a lot of time imagining what it would be like. Apart from that, we've all gone through basic emotions, and that's what writers use a lot of the time. Emotion.

And of course, you'll never get anywhereas a writer unless you try new things. Write about a place you've never been, or a character that's is so not you, and then get help from someone who has been there, or is like that character.

In answer to your question, is it a rule? Absolutely not. In the physical sense, you can research whatever you want, whatever interests you. And that's what writing's all about, right? Writing about things you DON'T necessarily know. Now, that being said, it might be difficult to write about love when you've never been in love, or don't know what it might be like. So, in the emotional sense, it might be better to write things you've felt, as is mentioned above. But this, too, can be researched. How? By reading. If you want to research love, read a romance. Really, you're only limitations are ones you might put on yourself.

The piece of advice in question is not a rule, but it's still something to be considered.

The caution is that you should focus on stuff you know unless you are really, really willing to get into a story. If you want to write about something you have no experience with (and I'm talking realistic fiction, fantasy doesn't count), you have to be prepared to do a lot of research to make sure the book is accurate. It shouldn't be based on TV portrayals of certain people, if you know what I mean. The literary magazine at school (I'm an editor) once discussed a piece that involved a character being arrested and brought to a police station, and it was like an episode of Law & Order: not exactly how the criminal justice system works.

But as gyr said, you can only go so far in what you do know...when you're writing about something you don't know, you're still able to draw on your own experiences, your own emotions.

Eh... I'd say it's more of a suggestion.

Cade wrote:The piece of advice in question is not a rule, but it's still something to be considered.

The caution is that you should focus on stuff you know unless you are really, really willing to get into a story. If you want to write about something you have no experience with (and I'm talking realistic fiction, fantasy doesn't count), you have to be prepared to do a lot of research to make sure the book is accurate.

I second this, and I should have mentioned this in my last post. I'll give you an example. I'm currently writing a book involving the Underground Railroad. And I AM a history major, but I hadn't really taken anything specializing in this time period (1826) or in the Underground Railroad. In order to make the story believable, I had to go to several historical, Victorian mansions around where I live to get an idea what the wealthy might have lived like. I had to research architecture in this year to see what the house might have looked like. I had to do some SERIOUS research on the Underground Railroad, finding out who the guides where, where they met, what the signs and key words were, and such. I had to research the area (North Carolina) and find out what the climate was like, and whether or not there were rock formations/forests/hiking trails I could work with in the story (and the best way to do that was to talk to someone FROM North Carolina, and, oddly enough, that was rather difficult.) I also had to look up specific customs that might be expected among the wealthy of this time.

And NONE of that was easy to find, believe me. And I had to be wary of anything I found online, for obvious reasons, and for that reason, preferred to do hard research. Get the picture? It was a LOT of work. So, in order to make a story believable, you have to be willing to dedicate time and work to the cause.

I'd hope that you don't write just what you know... or some sci-fi/fantasy writers are just insane! Take, for example, Tolkein. He did not KNOW about hobbits, elves, etc, but he was an anthropologist that studied the intricacies of human societies, and knew something of cultural differences from place to place.

You should have something you know be the foundation of your book, I believe, so that someone that IS versed in what you're writing about does not say to themselves, "This person is way off!"

When I was your age I wrote about high school, driving, etc, but it took a while for it all to fill out. Experience DOES help.

But, overall, write what you want to write about. If your characters just won't seem as cool or be as good at their 'jobs' if you don't make them forty-seven year old astronauts, then make them forty-seven year old astronauts. Do not stick them into middle school because that is the "only" thing you know.

Writing = creativity.

Hope that helped. Maybe.