500 Ways To Write Harder by Chuck Wendig

Author:Chuck Wendig [Wendig, Chuck]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: terribleminds
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

10. The Nature Of "Write What You Know"

Write What You Know is one of those pieces of writing advice that inspires glorious epiphany and pants-pooping rage in equal measure. Genre fiction tends to be where folks hit their heads against it in frustration: "Well, how can I write about murder scenes, alien apocalypses, or humping a sexy elf? I'VE ONLY DONE TWO OUT OF THE THREE. And the third, I was really drunk on monkey schnapps." With worldbuilding, the question becomes: how can this advice hold up? The easy answer is: it doesn't. It can come into the writing of characters and situations, but worldbuilding, not so much. The more complicated answer is: you can still borrow from things you understand and translate them accordingly. Maybe you know local school politics or neighborhood hierarchy, and you know how both operate viciously, each an engine that runs on gossip and lies -- psst, you can use that. Just give it a fantasy or space opera context, and boom. Alternately, you can borrow from culture, politics and history. Read some non-fiction about other places and different people. Again: translate. Use write what you know as a springboard to know more things, then gaze upon said things through the lens of the fantastic.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.