I know you guys have heard it before. It's been said time and time again to every writer who's ever taken a class, read a book, or watched a video, on writing before. They all say, 'write what you know', and it is assumed that you can't go wrong as long as you stay in that comfortable little pocket and don't stray too far away from it. It sounds like it makes perfect sense, doesn't it? At the most...you'll have to do a little research on your own to get the terminology, the facts, and the details right. It makes for a believable story, and anyone who has been in that same situation or has worked in that profession will be able to relate, because you're coming from a genuine place and telling your truth.

Well...the real question is how do you write what you know into a good story? That seems to be the part that a lot of these lessons seem to skip. Don't ever think that something like that can't go wrong, because I assure you...it most certainly can. Writing what you know can add an extra sense of knowledge and credibility to a project, sure. But without the proper finesse and careful weaving of your personal knowledge into a story, it can also create a total disconnect between you and your audience...and that's never a good thing. Always remember that every second that your readers spend getting detached from your story and its characters...it takes them three seconds to get back. Keeping them at arms length will only result in confusion and possible boredom. You don't want that. It's the whole reason that 'Layman's terms' exist. Hehehe!

So, let's spend some time talking about the deeper meaning behind writing what you know, shall we?

One of my personal guilty pleasures, movie wise...is "The Fast And The Furious" flicks! Hehehe, it's true! As ridiculous as they've gotten over time, I can't NOT watch the newest sequel when it comes out. I love them. Here's the thing, though...the new chapters of the "F & F" saga are pretty simple. Fast cars, guns, explosions, women in bikinis dancing for no reason, and some martial arts thrown in for good measure. And they've become increasingly popular over time. They're pretty accessible to any and all audiences. Hollywood knows how to use that formula to make a great deal of money whenever they want to cash a rather large check at the bank. Way it goes.

However, I remember when the first two or three chapters came out. And they were definitely entertaining in their own way, and were still sticking to that same basic formula...but you want to know what was different about that first movie as opposed to the last one? You can tell that it was written by someone (Or multiple people) that were enthusiasts who had a deep passion for automobiles. If you go back and watch it again, you can almost feel it. Right down to the bone.

Watching that scene, you can tell that it was crafted by someone who has a real knowledge of cars, engines, racing, and the whole culture and brotherhood surrounding it. Which is very cool! It makes you feel like you're a part of it, you know? So that's an awesome way to bring your love of a certain field, subject, or passion, into a story...

...For a while.

Now, some of you guys and gals out there might be car enthusiasts and auto mechanics yourselves...but if not...when they lifted up that hood and was talking about the fuel systems and the Nos and engine...did you understand any of that? Hehehe! I didn't. It sounded cool as shit, but I could never look at an engine and break it down like that. No way. Ask me about writing gay romance stories online and I can go on, non-stop, for hours at a time. But cars? My knowledge is extremely basic at best.

Here's the thing...the people who put that scene together were bringing their particular expertise to that scene, and they made it amazing. It was done in a way where other auto enthusiasts could relate and get excited about what was happening, and yet people who know nothing about cars felt as though they were included in the fun of it all anyway. So high fives for working that out in such a masterful way. But remember...that was just a scene from the movie. But can you imagine if that was the whole movie? Like...if it was all mechanics and tech talk from beginning to end? What would that do to their audience?

It would narrow it down. Considerably.

The key to being able to write what you know and about what you love is being aware of your audience to a degree where you understand that your niche may not be their niche. If it's something specific to you and you want to weave it into your story, then I think that's great. But, again...you don't want to alienate a majority of your readers by getting too technical for too long. Not everybody knows how to fix a car engine, not everybody knows tactical military strategy, not everybody knows the ins and outs of complex heart surgery. It's awesome to display your knowledge for a subject and appeal to others who know the same terminology and have the same nuance and experience that you do, but don't forget that you're writing for a broad audience with a wider variety of interests that might not include your one special 'thing'. I'm not saying that you should cater to that audience or aim for the lowest common denominator with your writing. I'm just putting it out there that this is something that every author should keep in mind when they're putting their project together. No matter what you write or who your characters are...you always want to keep your audience connected, fully engaged, and absorbent to whatever information that you're feeding to them at all times.

I think it's a good practice to center in on the emotion of any given scene first, and then let the specific details leak in to support that emotion to create a more three dimensional picture. The reason why I say that is because emotions grab almost everybody in a similar fashion. Using that "Fast & Furious" example again...you may not know the intricate parts of what makes an engine run or how looking under the hood of one car or another can be all that different, seeing as you don't know what's going on in there. BUT...you know what 'excitement' is. You know what pride, and competition, and respect is. THAT is what is being displayed in that scene. That's what makes it work. I have no clue as to what kind of engine that car is running on...but I know that when he lifted that hood, everybody gasped and gathered around to marvel at it. So my brain is puzzled, but my heart is telling me, "This must be BADASS to get people 'in the know' to react like that!" So I get excited too, you know?

It's all about how you make your readers feel when you're writing. Take your particular knowledge and expertise, and find ways to weave it into the plot and deeper emotion of your story so that your audience can play too...even if they don't have as deep an understanding of the subject matter as you do. Bring them in. Allow them to explore the same space. You can get a much better reaction from their emotions than you can with a bunch of expert technical jargon. Write what you know, but be mindful of what your audience knows and doesn't know, going in. It's always a team effort...writer and reader. This is a two man sport.

To give another example of this, I want to display a clip that comes from an older movie called "Hackers". Obviously...computer hacking is nowhere NEAR being this fun! LOL! I don't even know why anyone would spend the time doing it, to be honest. But, then again, I don't have the skill or the patience to even begin to pull off what some people can with a laptop and a few random passwords, so I doubt I'll ever be in that camp of expert hackers who might watch a film like this and really get a thrill out of it. However, what this movie did was use music and visuals and a variety of other tricks to make this scene look action packed and exciting...when really it would just be somebody sitting at a desk, typing code on a computer screen, trying to figure out how things work through hours and hours of trial and error, and maybe getting an occasional breakthrough every once in a while. Now, to a computer hacker...that's a RUSH for them! And if you happen to be a computer hacker reading that story or watching this movie, you're seeing things and getting all jazzed up over stuff that I simply can't understand. But...for those who aren't computer hackers and are just average movie goers looking to see a cool flick on the weekend, this scene was spiced up and injected with a heavy dose of that Generation X adrenaline that the 90's was known for. Hehehe, check it out.

Do you see what I mean? What is probably countless boring hours sitting at a keyboard, eating chips and hardly doing anything at all...has now been made to look like a digital fist fight on camera! The graphics, and the music, and the speed...it brings in the entire audience. What would that scene have been if it was just five minutes worth of tech talk that nobody other than computer security experts could truly comprehend? People would have checked out halfway through...and then your story has to work harder to bring them back in.

I think the secret to writing a really good story is to have the plot do as little 'heavy lifting' as possible. Bring the readers in and have them lift with you. They should be working with you. If you lose them and then have to go through the process of dragging them back into their literary engagement...a lot of your genius prose is going to end up falling on deaf ears. It's like wasting gas on an extremely off road detour, just to get back to the main highway. Writing what you know can be a bonus...but it can also act as a distraction. Finding a fair balance between the two will ultimately enhance your story and increase its appeal to all audiences instead of a select few.

Lock down the feelings and the emotions that come with your knowledge. The emotion is where you're going to grab your readers and hold them captive from scene to scene. Everybody doesn't get excited by figuring out computer puzzles. Everybody doesn't hear the intricacies of Jimi Hendrix playing the electric guitar, or understand the difficulty of Eminem's rhyme structure, or can tell the make and model of a gun simply by looking at it or hearing it being fired from a distance. If YOU can do that, and want to add that into your story for a more authentic feel and a realistic take on whatever tale it is that you're trying to tell...then awesome. Go for it. But always remember to do it with a balance, and keep it in mind that not everybody is going to know what you're talking about. That doesn't mean that you can't be specific and add fine details where you feel they're necessary. It just means that, if you're looking to appeal to a wider audience, don't give them enough 'show off' knowledge that will allow them to disconnect from what you're doing with the story itself.

Remember...for every second that the spend detached from your plot and characters...it takes three seconds to get them back on task. And two or three paragraphs about seeding the ground for farming, solving advanced mathematical equations, or fixing a septic tank...can add up to a LOT of seconds! Hehehe! Add a scene or two, but trade some of that technical jargon in with the emotion surrounding the technical jargon. That's the way to get the best of both worlds. At least, that's my opinion.

Writing what you know is so much fun, and it allows you to share a personal piece of yourself with the world that you can feel proud of. The key is just to remember that 'the world' is still out there, and they want to play too. They want to be involved. They want to be engaged. And you don't have time to explain everything to them after they've already started reading your work. A big part of being a popular writer is making your work accessible to a variety of different people from all walks of life. Younger, older, male, female, gay, straight...the more you tap into the core emotions of any given situation, the more people you will be able to connect to and hold still...even when dealing with subjects that they don't really have any previous experience with.

If you're a part of the LGBTQ community...think about this. How many heterosexual romantic comedies have you seen in your lifetime? They may not speak to your attraction directly...but you understand the emotion behind it, right? You might only like men...but you get "Sleeping In Seattle", or "Pretty Woman", or "The Notebook", or any one of a million other movies about a boy meeting a girl and falling in love. Not because you share the attraction...but because those movies tapped into the emotional part of that situation, and the details were added to enhance the picture. The emotion is what we all latch on to, whether we feel the same way or not. Keep that in your heart and mind...and you can write about anything and still draw an audience. It's liberating. It really is.

Anyway, I hope this helps a bit! Keep writing, and keep expressing your hearts the best way that you know how. You never stop learning new techniques. I'm still learning new ones all the time myself. But, if I can leave a few breadcrumbs for the next big author to pick up and rise up to reach their full potential in the future...then I'm blessed! Hehehe, it'll give me some good shit to read later!

Take care! And I'll seezya soon with more! Love you lots! And Happy writing!