How Much Personal Experience You Need To Write Fiction
Everybody says write what you know, but just how much personal experience do you need to write fiction?
This is another post in a series on How Much in writing:
- How much blood you need in a crime novel.
- How much sex you need in a sex scene.
- How much it costs to write a book.
- How much detail you need in a novel.
- How much profanity you need in a novel.
- How much magic you need in a fantasy novel.
- How much story you need in a short story.
- How much technobabble you need in science fiction.
- How much personal experience you need to write fiction.
In this post we’re talking about ‘How Much Personal Experience You Need To Write Fiction’.
How Much Personal Experience You Need To Write Fiction
One of the first pieces of advice wannabe writers often hear is to write what you know. The first thing that you may think is ‘I don’t know anything’. But you’re wrong.
What does ‘write what you know’ mean?
Does it mean that if you can’t write a book about dinosaurs unless you’re a palaeontologist?
If we looked at Jane Austen and Ernest Hemingway, the answer would be yes. Austen knew village life, wealthy landowners, family life, romance, and scandal. Hemingway knew war, loss, and hunting big game. Both authors’ books were founded deeply within their own personal experience.
But if we look at Michael Crichton and Georgette Heyer, the answer is no. Crichton studied at Harvard to become a doctor, but none of his books had a pure medical setting. Most had either a factual or a fictional scientific foundation. So, while he didn’t write what he knew, his medical training would have taught him how and where to research his topics. Heyer had no professional training or experience. What she did have was a dedication to precise and deep research. And that was before the invention of the internet!
Top Tip: Thanks to Google, you don’t have an excuse for poor research. Use it. Even if you don’t use everything you discover, what you do discover informs your writing. If you can’t find the info you need you will be able to find someone who can point you in the right direction.
What do you know?
You know you. You know how you think, act, react, talk, and respond. You know how you feel when you wake up in the morning, when someone offers you chocolate cake, whether you prefer clubbing or staying at home and reading a book. If you have a scene in your book that takes place in a club, you will have an advantage over a writer who doesn’t.
Our lives are not two dimensional. That means you will have a treasure trove of experiences on which you can draw. From not getting the birthday present you thought was under the tree when you were five, moving schools and not knowing anyone, learning to drive, your first interview, the first time you went to a funeral.
You can mine for characters from all the people that you’ve encountered in your life, from your crazy aunt, the kind librarian, the school bully, the unkind cousin, the sarcastic mother, the alcoholic neighbour, the old lady you sat next to every day on the bus who always called you ‘sweetie’.
Your likes and dislikes are also a great source of info. What is it about eating cereal for dinner that delights you? How about the smell of boiling cabbage? What do thrift shops smell like – try comparing that smell to a food aroma. What words make your spine curl? Is getting into bed at the end of a winter’s day something you look forward to? Why? Think beyond the fact that you are tired and cold.
You don’t have to recreate the exact person, situation, memory, or experience from your life, but you can use them to inform the characters, scenes, and dialogue in your book.
The Last Word
If you would like to learn how to draw from your inner-life, your past, and your experiences, as well as how to do great research, sign up for one of the rich and in-depth workbooks and courses that Writers Write offers and get your book off to a great start.
by Elaine Dodge. Author of The Harcourts of Canada series and The Device Hunter, Elaine trained as a graphic designer, then worked in design, advertising, and broadcast television. She now creates content, mostly in written form, including ghost writing business books, for clients across the globe, but would much rather be drafting her books and short stories.
More Posts From Elaine
- A Quick Start Guide To Writing Crime Fiction
- What Can Jane Austen Teach Writers Today?
- A Quick Start Guide To Writing Dialogue
- What Is Deus Ex Machina in Storytelling?
- What Is True Crime & How Do I Write It?
- How To Write A Paranormal Story
- What Is Fan Fiction & How Do I Write It?
- The 6 Pillars Of Young Adult Fiction
- Figurative Language – Definition & Examples
- The 5 Pillars Of Speculative Fiction
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