Knowledge, or write what you know...
You've heard it before, or read it on blogs or sites that deal with writing, or if you are one of the lucky ones to get some writing books, 'write what you know'. It's a fantastic piece of advice, once that is that you realise it's not as restricting as it sounds.
Hear me out...
When you have a vast library (local or in the next town / city) or the internet, you can learn all there is to know about any subject you ever wanted to know (just be careful about going onto illegal sites, I don't recommend accessing them unless you want to spend time behind bars).
Once you know a subject inside out, you know it, so therefore you can write about it. Sci Fi is mostly about science so go read some (sci fi), Fantasy is the same (oh and different authors have different rules for writing vamps, wolves, witches and every other supernatural critter going). Decide on the rules of your universe, and as long as they aren't really so out of bounds that they encourage your readers to use your wonderful novel as kindling, then write it.
My kindle is full of books written by authors on vamps and lycans (funnily mostly romances, but I do like Kelly Armstrong's, Otherworld series for things other than romance) that I use as research for my own characters, and once I've decided on their rules, I do my best to stick to them (a document on my computer keeps me on track).
Know your target audience...
This is important not only in trying to get your writing published (the right publishing house), but also when it comes to who you need to target in order to market to. It also helps you try to figure out where you should be selling your product, Comicon, Photography Club, Workshop, Book Fair, Cookery Classes, Craft Clubs, Festivals...
It's worthwhile trying to figure it all out if you can.
Write What You Know
Target audience
How to figure out your target audience
Great tips! This is a wonderful blog, and I'm so glad that through the A-to-Z, I found it. :-)
ReplyDeleteGood tips. It is possible to travel anywhere and learn anything through the internet, though it's always a good idea to cross-check references, even though it's often not straightforward.
ReplyDeleteGood tips! My settings are always loosely based on familiar locations but my plots tend to be unfamiliar. I do use wikipedia a lot, lol
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