Write What You (Don't) Know!

"Write what you know!" It's probably the most common hunk of writing advice ever given/received/remembered/acted upon and rejected. Because let's face it, if it were true, every one of us Ladykillers would be dispensing our wisdom from lock down (me, most likely, from the criminal psychiatric ward). I haven't run amok with a team of salivating fallen angels or vampires and last I checked, it was pretty unanimously agreed that the dead generally stay dead. Or close to it. But we still hear it at every writing seminar and in every book that promises to make you an overnight best seller.

So here's what I know.

1. I'm kind of an aficionado on Target stores. I can locate the Dollar Spot and cat litter at any Target, anywhere, in thirty seconds flat. Perhaps my next novel will be Terror at Target. (Catchy, no?)

2. I know that Halloween candy still has calories, and even if you eat it in costume, they still can find you. Hence my next novel, Mrs. Gianthighs and the Snickers Sneaker.

3. I know that if I wear a white blouse out to dinner, I'll inevitably order something multicolored and then get to wear a Jackson Pollock-does-spaghetti sauce ensemble home. Sauce Killed My Shirt, anyone?

I know a plethora of other dull, uninteresting things but my imagination tends to smother them and horrible, vampiric things tend to bleed out, doused with murder, mayhem, and the occasional townhouse blown to bits. So, until the reading trend leans toward the Target, I'll stick with writing things I think, not know. Although I could write a mean mystery on tomato growing...

Comments

[Diana Orgain]

Hannah - you're so funny! Seriously though -I love writing things I don't know about because it pushes me to learn - like dare I say it - Quantum Physics - when I first starting writing about it - I couldn't even spell it (And Camille can attest to that!)

[Margaret Lucke]

Sounds to me like you know a lot, Hannah. Especially about how to entertain a reader!