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REWRITING "WHAT YOU KNOW"

6/19/2016

18 Comments

 
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When I first began reading books and attending lectures on writing, I consistently heard, “write what you know.” In theory, the concept is simple. Stories incorporating personal experiences will be more believable, interesting, and engaging for readers. My problem is that “writing what you know” doesn’t always work for me.

For example, I was my mother’s miracle baby–her first successful pregnancy, her brilliant, beautiful bubbly daughter (she saw what she wanted to see). She taught me to read, was my Girl Scout leader, cheered me on in whatever activity I chose to try, and beamed with pride when I graduated from college and law school. Even if something didn’t quite go the way I hoped, my mother was there for me.

In three sentences, I’ve summarized enough of our relationship for you to realize our story lacks conflict. Although this scenario may result in a plot that is believable, I doubt that any reader except my mother would find it interesting or engaging. But, what if our interaction had been different? What if she hadn’t been loving and supportive? If she’d walked out of my life when I was a child without telling me why? What if I was raised by my father? Or, if his position in the community brought a number of surrogate mother types into my life? How would such a family dynamic impact the woman I became?

Once these questions crossed my mind, endless story possibilities intrigued me. The result of modifying “write what you know” to “write what you don’t know” became my new book, Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery. In Poker, Carrie’s mother returns to her life twenty-six years after abandoning her family. Within hours of appearing in Carrie’s office and leaving Carrie with a sealed envelope and the knowledge that she once considered killing Carrie’s father, Carrie’s mother is murdered. Compelled to find out why her mother is dead and to unravel why she abandoned her, Carrie soon learns that what she was taught to believe and the truth may very well be two different things.

Blending what I know and what I don’t raised the stakes for Poker’s plotline beyond the sentimental tale of my mother loving me. It also convinced me that the boundaries of reality often need to be challenged by writers. At least for me, failure to take the challenge means there could never be a Goldstein book or story about vampires, werewolves, the inner thoughts of animals, or a mother who doesn’t have twins.
What about you? Do you stick to reading or writing only what you know?



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Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Should Have Played Poker: A Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery (Five Star Publishing, April 2016) and the 2012 IPPY award-winning Maze in Blue, a mystery set on the University of Michigan’s campus. She also writes short stories and nonfiction. Debra serves on the national Sisters in Crime, Guppy Chapter, and Alabama Writers Conclave boards and is a MWA member. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband, Joel, whose blood runs crimson.


18 Comments
Debra H. Goldstein link
6/19/2016 05:57:07 pm

Thank you for having me as a guest today.

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Connie Berry
6/20/2016 04:18:54 am

We read to take us places we could never go. I suspect that's why we write as well.

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Debra H. Goldstein link
6/20/2016 05:58:14 am

Connie,
I suspect you are correct. We escape into the stories other people write and we let our imaginations take us beyond the limits of our own reality in what we write. Thanks for leaving a comment this morning. Debra

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cj petterson link
6/20/2016 07:16:21 am

I've transposed "writing what you know" into "writing what you love to read." Nice post, Debra, and best wishes for great sales and marvelous reviews. Marilyn (aka cj)

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Debra H. Goldstein link
6/20/2016 09:39:46 am

Marilyn (CJ)......good transposition :). Thank you for your kind remarks

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Joanne Guidoccio link
6/20/2016 07:23:32 am

Intriguing storyline! I'm putting Should Have Played Poker on my TBR list for the summer.

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Debra H. Goldstein link
6/20/2016 09:41:08 am

Joanne,
Appreciate your comment....can't wait to hear what you think of Should Have Played Poker. It definitely is meant to be a beach, airplane, or bedside (TBR pile isn't bad either) read. Debra

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Keenan Powell
6/20/2016 08:08:32 am

I started with writing what I knew, law, court, to minimize research as I figured out the craft. Still working on the craft but I have more time to research so that opens up entire avenues. Love your new books premise.

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Debra H. Goldstein link
6/20/2016 09:42:58 am

Keenan,
I find that my legal background (litigation and years on the bench) work into many of my writings, but my imagination couldn't wait to get beyond exactly what I knew. I think letting my imagination go permitted my works (short stories and two novels) to have more dimension. Good luck with your writing. Debra

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Vicki Batman
6/20/2016 08:42:45 am

I still like the mahjong tiles!!! I've researched lots of things, like M&Ms, plumbing, handbags. It's fun to learn new things.

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Debra H. Goldstein link
6/20/2016 11:19:31 am

I'm with you on the mah jongg tiles, but I'd sure like to help you do any further research on M&Ms. I'm partial to the green ones. Debra

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Pat Brown link
6/20/2016 11:40:09 pm

I've always thought that was the worst piece of advice anyone can give to a new author. It stifles them since most people (myself included) do not lead exciting lives in interesting places. I write police procedural novels as well as historical fiction. I've never been a cop, been arrested or killed anyone, but i write about those things very convincingly. I've also never lived in NYC in 1888 or in Los Angeles during Prohibition yet I write about both. I've never been off this planet, yet I managed to write a novel several years ago set on several different planets and in interstellar space. I seriously doubt Stephen King has experienced any of the horrors he writes about either.

Write what excites you or as one writer suggested, write what scares you. Either of those states will produce a far better story than blindly writing only what you know.

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Debra H. Goldstein link
6/21/2016 09:30:44 am

Pat,
I have to agree with you. Some of the best books are written without the actual knowledge of the time, place, setting or plot possibility, but the key is to put enough into the story to make it plausible. Whether research or logic, such as my reversal of the emotion I felt growing up in a good home, creates the initial seed for the story or book, one has to provide details and a plot that carries through to the end. Thanks for stopping by ... and you definitely have succeeded at writing what you don't know. dhg

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Warren Bull link
6/21/2016 07:12:02 am

I think that piece of advice works if stated in the negative. Don't write what you don't know. If there is something you want to write about that you don't know much about yet, take the time and do the research. Then write about it.

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Debra H. Goldstein link
6/21/2016 09:33:44 am

Warren,
Your point about the research is well taken, but it doesn't preclude one's imagination taking things a step beyond research. For example, Stephen King could research fear and amputation for Misery, but there are details in that book that only could come from an extension of his imagination or simply going beyond what he knew. Appreciate your comment because I am a researcher for getting details right, but as I've expressed in some of my comments above, the seed often comes from starting at a point where I don't know or haven't experienced the emotion or fact pattern. dhg

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Kaye George link
6/21/2016 10:49:06 am

I think what you're saying is what I usually do. Take my own experiences and expand them beyond what I actually know to make them interesting. I think most people's lives would make poor tension-filled novels and I feel sorry for those whose lives WOULD. They probably can't concentrate enough to write. Great premise for the essay.

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Debra H. Goldstein link
6/21/2016 01:05:16 pm

Kaye,
You're a master at this -- whether using your classical music training to write a "real" book or coming up with an idea in the Neanderthal world that is just as "real," you do it all. The expansion you put into your books is what builds the pace and tension from the basic seeds of your life, knowledge or research. Debra

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Kaye George
6/21/2016 02:20:06 pm

Aw shuck--thanks for your kind words. You're no slouch either! I don't have this latest book yet. Hoping to win a copy.


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