By Becky Muth
One bit of advice
every author hears in his or her lifetime is write what you know. That’s great, but what happens when you feel
inspired to write about something you don’t know? What happens when characters
take us to the places we’ve never been and situations we’ve yet to experience?
You don’t have to be a science fiction or fantasy writer to build new worlds or
put your characters in unfamiliar situations.
Authors write what
they don’t know every day. Cozy mystery author Susan
Boyer, unlike the main character in her Liz Talbot series, isn’t a
private investigator who carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade handbag. Elizabeth Spann Craig isn’t an octogenarian
retired schoolteacher, but the titular character of her Myrtle Clover Series
is. And unlike Vanessa, one of the main characters in my novelette, Screaming Jenny, I’m not a history buff with a
dislike for technology.
The more I write,
the more I learn to sit back and enjoy the ride when my characters drag me into
the great unknown. In the beginning, I fought the characters of my work in
progress (WIP) on this to the point where I would stop writing for weeks at a
time. Having learned my lesson, now learning new things is one of my favorite
parts of the writing process.
When writing what
I don’t know, I like to follow my imagination as far as I can. I’ve never run
through the woods while clutching a human heart, been buried alive, or hired
the Pinkertons. This didn’t stop me from writing about those situations. When I
reached the part I didn’t know, then I did the research.
Here are some tips
to help you write what you don’t know:
Go to the library. American comic book writer Stan
Lee says the library card is the most important card in his wallet. It should
be the most important card in every writer’s wallet. Although Google and
Wikipedia offer endless amounts of information, for me there’s nothing like
cracking open a book and jotting notes down in a journal within the hushed
confines of my local library.
Talk to experts who have the information you need. Talking to an
expert will often give you more than enough information to add realistic
details to your WIP. At the 2015 Mid-Atlantic Fiction Writers Institute
conference, keynote speaker Tess Gerritsen spoke about researching her
novel, GRAVITY, which included talking with NASA scientists.
Read random Wikipedia articles. Have you ever
used the “Random article” feature on Wikipedia?
I’m a little A.D.D. so for me, this feature is good and bad. The good news is,
you can learn all sorts of things you don’t know. On the downside, you can
waste hours learning all sorts of things that are useless for enhancing your
current WIP, but that may inspire future plots.
A final word of
advice is that if you don’t know something and are unable to research it, don’t
lie about it. Authors often walk a fine line between fiction and falsehood.
It’s better to omit something you don’t know than to mislead your readers.
After all, a reader who loves your book will tell others about it.
Word-of-mouth is always more genuine than any type of social media
advertisement.
The next time a
character drags you into a situation you don’t know, strap into your seat
because you’re in for roller coaster ride of twists and turns into new literary
territory. What you learn along the way could mean the difference between a
mediocre plot and a blockbuster storyline.
______________________________________________________________
Becky Muth lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains
with her husband and their two sons. She loves attending events where she can
interact with other writers and readers. When she's not writing or reading,
Becky enjoys spending time with her family, knitting, and drawing pet
portraits. You can visit her blog at beckymuth.com or
follow her on most social media networks under Author Becky Muth. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorbeckymuth/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorbeckymuth/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorbeckymuth/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/authorbeckymuth/
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