Young Writers Society

This is a big debate going on in the world of writing. It's almost been going for as long as fiction has been around.
The debate is about whether you should only write about things you know and have experienced before. Or just do research on the topic. What I want to know is:
What do YOU think?
Obviously since this is Young Writers' Society, a lot of you would go for research as we don't have as much life experience as the professional writers. But I just wanted to know your thoughts on it.

we don't have as much life experience as the professional writers.

I'll leave that at "debatable"...

I tend to go for a hybrid. My plot ideas on the surface might not be anything I've experienced, (such as, sibling rivalries, arranged marriages, being a bit of a spy) but looking deeper I pull just about everything from life experiences.

Like, racing a friend to be the best in *insert event here.* That event itself might not show up in a story, but feeling detached from a friend, having a sibling rivalry that's a race to be the best, and the feelings that go along with competition, probably will show up.

I'll also research a lot about various time-periods that I base my writing in and use my imagination to fill in the gaps. Research makes the world richer. Even if you've experienced the landscape, you might need a memory refresher. You might also need to know how a local lives their day-to-day lives. So even if you've experienced something, that's not a sure-fire way to get out of research.

One should also take in mind that professional writers do more research than we might know of. Sure, they've experienced a lot, but do they really know what it's like to be in the Middle Ages, fighting a mage-lord with nothing but a spell book and some hard-earned swordsmanship skills? They probably go with research then, a good dose of imagination, and pull feelings from applicable life-experiences.

Personally, I find it's best not to limit yourself to just the things you've experienced. Experience is a great place to pull from, but even if you don't think you've experienced much you can still pull from your own life. But even the most experienced writer sometimes needs to look at other sources to get just the right feel. After all, their MC might not be doing exactly what they did.

Obviously since this is Young Writers' Society, a lot of you would go for research as we don't have as much life experience as the professional writers.

That isn't entirely true. I don't know, for example, how it feels to drive a car, buy a house, get a job, but I do know what it's like to go paragliding, or climb up the Leaning Tower of Pisa (nerve-wracking!). We've all had different experiences.

However, until the invention of teleportation or a time machine, some things need to be researched. We can't know first hand what the Spanish Inquisition was like, or how Londoners felt during WWII. This is the stuff that takes some pretty heavy research, plus talking to anyone you might know who lived through it.

As Rosey said, it isn't best to limit yourself to what you've experienced. You can draw from your experiences, sure, and you can use it if you have something worth writing about, but why deny a load of great ideas when a little research could solve that problem? As with many things in writing, it's all about finding a good balance, I think.

Obviously since this is Young Writers' Society, a lot of you would go for research as we don't have as much life experience as the professional writers. But I just wanted to know your thoughts on it.

Yeah, I definitely have to disagree there. My life has been filled with some very interesting experiences, both good and bad…well, mostly bad. But those experiences have been the most influential to my writing.

But one expression comes to mind: Experience inspires, but research makes the story real. You can feel and write about all of these emotions, but without the research, the story will fall flat. Try describing ancient Rome without research or a coastal city when you were born and raised in the mid-west. It’s hard, believe you me.

But taking the time to research a story will make the details feel real. My NaNoWriMo project takes place in Tibet but being raised in South Dakota makes it a challenge. So that means research, research, research. But the story line, the feelings and emotions of the story, those are from experiencing life. It’s a mix.

Take the novel Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Golden, who was born in Tennessee, had to research the setting and culture of Japan but used life and experience to capture emotion.

So there’s my opinion. Okay, mostly it was rambling, but still.

I think what splitpin means when he/she writes...

Obviously since this is Young Writers' Society, a lot of you would go for research as we don't have as much life experience as the professional writers. But I just wanted to know your thoughts on it.

that most professional writers are older, and usually, people who are older, have more experiences like fighting in a war, getting wasted and having a hangover, getting a speeding ticket and so on.

It all depends on your lifestyle, how much money you have and where you live

But I think if you want to write about something you haven't experienced you should definitely research it, after all - Scientia Est Vox! (Knowledge Is Power)
Hehe, Latin is cool

It depends a lot on what's happening in the story. Some things are either too dangerous, expensive, or hard to come by to experience them. In what I'm writing now, there's a lot of people shooting each other. I'd rather not learn about that from experience. Fortunately there's plenty of movies, video games and books that let you get a feel for that. Besides which, not many other people have shot someone, so if I can trick myself, I can trick them.

On the other hand, I've been to the place where my story is set many times, and I don't think the description could be as vivid or accurate if I only knew about those places from research.

Experience what you can, without going too far out of your way, and research the rest.

Both these methods have their advantages.

Experience.If what you write comes from personal experience,the story generally comes out much better smooth and interesting because the person with the experience knows just the perfect way of telling it.Another advantage is that the story comes out pretty much finished when it comes from experience.Not much effort is needed in thinking how to write it.

Research.Anyone using this method needs to do a lot of homework before he can prepare the complete story.An important thing to keep in mind using research is that it must be about something you would be really interested to write about.Once the research is done,the story must be thought out carefully, and then completed with great care.

Overall,experience has the upper hand against research when it comes to writing.