The Problem With “Write What You Know”
Oscar Hjelmstedt medium.com
A few years ago, I visited a book fair in Malmö, Sweden. One of the speakers there was Jens Lapidus, a successful crime writer with a keen eye for all spectrums of society, apt at channeling the…
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Medium
A few years ago, I visited a book fair in Malmö, Sweden. One of the speakers there was Jens Lapidus, a successful crime writer with a keen eye for all spectrums of society, apt at channeling the voices of both urban gangsters and Stockholm’s elite. His hard-boiled writing is often fast-paced and written in a jargon that mirrors that of the characters.

Lapidus was previously a defense attorney and drew on many of the cases that he encountered in his profession to craft the characters of his novels. It’s been said that when the police enter the home of a criminal, they often find a “Scarface” poster and one of Lapidus’ books.

During recess at the book fair, I approached Lapidus and asked him for writing advice. He gave me two tips:

1. Copy the writers that you admire.

2. Dig where you stand.

The first one is classic advice, echoing how Joan Didion learned to adapt Hemingway’s writing by copying his sentences word by word.

The latter is a call for the writer to channel their experiences and interests. “Dig where you stand” can be seen as the Swedish equivalent of “write what you know.” However, there is a difference between the two.

The expression is misleading, and that is what irks me about its use as a piece of writing advice.

People want to read about experiences that are true to life. Even if it’s a cyberpunk saga or a fantasy epic, we look for characters that we can relate to.

In this day and age where identity politics is so prevalent, some might feel uncomfortable writing about lives that are different from their own. To me, that hampers literature. Who we are as writers should not exclude the subject matter that we want to write about.

Does “write what you know” mean that you can’t write about a world that is not your own? Of course not, people write about outlandish worlds and characters all the time. However, you might doubt that you can — or even have the right — to write a realistic portrayal of a life that you do not know.

In 1995, the Swedish writer Henning Mankell published his novel “Secrets in the Fire” about a girl in Moçambique who gets her legs blown off by a landmine and her subsequent plight.

If “Secrets in the Fire” was published today the response might’ve been different. Perhaps readers would tell Henning Mankell that he is not the one to tell that story.

Did Henning Mankell have the experiences of a young girl in Moçambique? No, but it’s beside the point since he’s writing about a character and not an actual person.

What’s pertinent, however, is to make sure that your story is thoroughly researched and depicts a world that is true-to-life.

“Write what you know” isn’t inherently bad advice, but you shouldn’t take it too literally. Instead, “dig where you stand” is a better way to phrase it.

Literature is about understanding, whether it’s stepping into the mind of a 19th-century lumberjack, a feudal samurai or a fantasy heroine. By limiting us to merely writing about “what we know,” we restrict how we understand each other.

Literature is about connecting with characters that give you a unique perspective on life. If we only write what we know, afraid of taking on other experiences, we limit our understanding of the world, and in extension, ourselves.