Write what you know

I posted GUTGAA last week, so look below for that.

Write what you know.

I actually find this an interesting piece of advice. Many people interpret it to mean that if you're in the military you write about the military, or if you're a lawyer you write about law stuff.

And to a certain extent, they're correct. I would find it very difficult to write about the fine points of fighting a forest fire, as Alice at Beesley Buzz can. She's experienced that, she knows it inside and out. However, I can easily imagine being caught behind the fireline, perhaps refusing to be evacuated, or piling onto a rubber raft and trying to escape down a river.

I know the heat of a fire. I can extrapolate from that what it might be like, at least well enough to write about it. I cannot write about fighting fires because too much specialized knowledge is required.

For the same reason I can write fantasy. I know people, how they think and what they feel. Much of fantasy or science fiction, beyond the rules that can be made up, is people. We all know people.

I can do research to find out what it's like in a cave, or under the ocean, or the basics of any profession, and have someone read the stories to make sure the descriptions fit. I know what it's like to be in the dark, I know what the water looks like shining on the bottom of a pool. I can take this further, into realms I do not know.

It's the people that take that world a step further and make it real. It's when the people element fails that we start saying "this isn't realistic."

I know how to build a world, a magical system, even a language, but without people in that world who act like people, those elements are meaningless.

Write what you know.