Write what you know, or explore what you want to know.

[Katherine E Wall]

I am a great fan of MOOCs (massive open online course). Whether I take the course for credit, or just audit to build my knowledge base, I have enrolled in several. There are so many that I want to enrol in as well, but there are only so many hours in a day.

Currently, among several others, I am taking a course on Natural Disasters from McGill University, and a course about Tangible Objects and their role in understanding history.

So what about you? How do you explore topics you would like to know more about, and how does this impact your writing?

[roguexunited]

I too take a lot of online courses. I prefer taking courses that can help as a complement to what I'm studying, or if they teach something that I can't find in my university. Recently I've been drawn to the courses that deal with narrative in different mediums, the core was Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and we had to read the book, watch the movies and play the online game to see how story changed and why. I found that course interesting and inspiring.

[Katherine E Wall]

I too take a lot of online courses. I prefer taking courses that can help as a complement to what I'm studying, or if they teach something that I can't find in my university. Recently I've been drawn to the courses that deal with narrative in different mediums, the core was Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and we had to read the book, watch the movies and play the online game to see how story changed and why. I found that course interesting and inspiring.

That sounds like a fascinating course. What a great way to explore the changing role of storytelling as well. I took a course from Germany, via iversity called The Future of Storytelling. I think it is hard for us to really imagine where storytelling will be in twenty, fifty or a hundred years, just as our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents would have trouble conceiving things like storytelling videogames.

We can be fairly certain though that storytelling will be around. It is a central core to who we are.

[roguexunited]

Yes, specially now that you can publish a book made out of your tweets or your tumblr blog, I still haven't come across one of this, but I am looking forward to see what they can offer.

[LorenaBBooks]

It depends. I actually think it's a blend of both. Sometimes I write what I know and that's how I started my writing career. Now I find that when I am in different places and hear something interesting, I want to write about that. Means I have to research, but maybe that's the draw, to understand the why.

[ipekbunsal]

I prefer both. But doing research about what I'll write is so much fun.
In addition, I do sometimes choose the story according to the interesting facts I find.

[haikudude]

I do a lot of research on random topics that have no bearing on a WIP. After reading
a bio of Pat Tillman, I became interested in the explorations that the author had been
on. He had actually hiked the canyon in Afghanistan where Tillman was killed, 9
years before. Many of his hikes were in places that hadn't seen a human being, except for explorers like himself, in years. I write what I know, and random research can only expand that.

[Johntherobert]

Write what you know, thanks for the idea, explore what you want to know.

-- 02 Aug 2014, 22:58 --

Definitely use my knowledge of the law to write. I hear different story's about the outcome of the story in the bible, it helps.

[SharisseEM]

I research a lot especially if I'm doing a historical. I would love to explore but I'm pretty (whisper: broke). Maybe when I save up enough from working, I'll be able to explore more instead of just learning from books.

[milliethom]

I love doing research, and probably spend far too long on it. One interesting section, or just a single snippet, can send me all over the place to find out more. I do need to do research for my books, which are historical fiction, so I tell myself the information will be useful. But I take care to be selective when I'm writing. Regarding character creation, with me that is a mixture of what I've already observed about human behaviour and how particular historic characters were reputed to behave (or look etc.).

[Amheiser]

I'm more comfortable writing about what I know of course, but I also like to do research. When I'm not comfortable writing about something that I don't know about, I do extra research so I'm sure that I know as much as I can about something that I want to write about. Then when I write about something that I've researched, I've researched it so much that I can write about it comfortably, because I know all I can about it.

[krisliz88]

I am a great fan of MOOCs (massive open online course). Whether I take the course for credit, or just audit to build my knowledge base, I have enrolled in several. There are so many that I want to enrol in as well, but there are only so many hours in a day.

Currently, among several others, I am taking a course on Natural Disasters from McGill University, and a course about Tangible Objects and their role in understanding history.

So what about you? How do you explore topics you would like to know more about, and how does this impact your writing?

I haven't written in such a long time and I truly miss it. I was editor in chief of my high school newspaper and I graduated first in my creative writing class. I know that I can write and that I am good at it, I think that I just get very overwhelmed at what I should write about. There are a million things that I would love to know, but I am the type of person where I wouldn't be able to narrow it down. Lately I have been thinking of writing again as some things have gone on in my personal life that I think that other people, specifically women, could probably relate to. It is just a matter of me physically doing it and overcoming my fear that it would be terrible, etc.

In general, I would say that the best kind of writing would be to stick with what you know, especially personal experiences.

[moderntimes]

Well, of course I write what I know first. I'm a mystery writer (mostly) with thus far 3 modern American private detective novels. I'm fairly well informed on police and crime matters, have friends in the police, and possess a strong familiarity with firearms. These all help when I'm writing so that I don't make content mistakes.

But in my 3rd novel, I wanted a slight change of pace, so I "set up" my private eye protagonist with this smart, sarcastic female trauma surgeon. To add flavor to her "biography" she's from New Zealand and enjoys recreational sailing. I know zip about sailing so I thoroughly researched my subject matter, talked to people who sail, and spent time on sailing websites to get info for the background of the story. I tried hard to make the background info authentic.

So yeah, I both write about what I know and then research what I don't.

[Katherine E Wall]

I haven't written in such a long time and I truly miss it....Lately I have been thinking of writing again as some things have gone on in my personal life that I think that other people, specifically women, could probably relate to. It is just a matter of me physically doing it and overcoming my fear that it would be terrible, etc.

Hi KrisLiz.

Why not take a stab at the short story contest here? It will make you stretch and strive, and how else can we grow, unless we try? Besides, there is a little bit less than a month to enter, so you won't have time to angst over it. Give it a shot. What is the worst that could happen? You find ways to improve?

Any writing is good writing as long as you are open to improving on it as you grow.

Go for it.

Oh, and you can use this for inspiration: petsfans.com/see-what-this-little-puppy ... ets+Lovers

Take a page from his book and be determined to overcome your fears.

Good luck.

-- 06 Jan 2015, 00:53 --

-- 06 Jan 2015, 00:52 --

Well, of course I write what I know first. I'm a mystery writer (mostly) with thus far 3 modern American private detective novels. I'm fairly well informed on police and crime matters, have friends in the police, and possess a strong familiarity with firearms. These all help when I'm writing so that I don't make content mistakes.

But in my 3rd novel, I wanted a slight change of pace, so I "set up" my private eye protagonist with this smart, sarcastic female trauma surgeon. To add flavor to her "biography" she's from New Zealand and enjoys recreational sailing. I know zip about sailing so I thoroughly researched my subject matter, talked to people who sail, and spent time on sailing websites to get info for the background of the story. I tried hard to make the background info authentic.

So yeah, I both write about what I know and then research what I don't.

I have been absent from the forums for quite some time, MT, but this third book sounds really fascinating. I still have to get your books and read them. I know I promised a long time ago to get on that, but you know, life intervenes in sometimes very challenging ways.

Of course, challenges translate into even more that I know about (some things I would rather not) and therefore more grist for the mill.

[ALynnPowers]

I tend to write more about what I know. Of course something might pop up that would require me to look up something just for authenticity's sake, but I feel like we can give a better representation of something if we know from experience what we're talking about.