Today, for a change of pace, we will hear from Nikolas Baron. Nick works for Grammarly, an online automated proofreader that finds and explains grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes in all types of writing.
And without further ado, here's Nick!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Know What You Write
There's an old adage in writing,
“Write only what you know.” The idea is that when you're writing fiction, you
should only write about subjects in which you are an expert. After all, in
fiction, your ultimate goal should be to convince your reader of the truth in
your narrative. How can I truly believe the struggles of the detective's job,
if the author has never worked as a detective? Even science-fiction, a genre
known for fantastical and wild elements, has to get at least some of the
science right, or the story won't be believable. That's why the greats of
science-fiction – Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, for example – had strong
backgrounds in science, which filtered into each of the science-fiction works.
As with most adages, this one is
fairly true, but it's not the whole truth. I've been reading and loving fiction
since I was a small child, and over the years, I've read everything from
mystery fiction to historical romance to coming-of-age stories to thrillers,
and I've learned many things, but one of the most important things I've learned
is that in fiction, you can do anything. There are only a few rules in writing
fiction, and even then, I can think of examples of books that break those
rules.
So, if you want to consider
“write only what you know” a rule, then I would encourage you to break it.
After all, if we only wrote what we knew, then our careers as fiction writers
would be short and boring. I say, instead of writing what you know, we should
create a new adage: “Know what you write.”
Do you still need to strive for
elements of truth in your fiction? Absolutely, but you also don't need to be an
expert. For every science-fiction writer that had a strong background in
science, I can name an equally great author that had none. For example, Kim
Stanley Robinson's background is in English, while Philip K. Dick took classes
in philosophy, history, and psychology. Even Robert A. Heinlein, often
mentioned in the same sentence as Asimov and Clarke, dropped out of his
mathematics and physics classes to enter politics. But their works all
maintained the degrees of truth necessary for great science-fiction. How did
they do it? They knew what they wrote.
They read and researched topics
they intended to write about. They talked to experts about subjects until they
had a working knowledge, until they were confident enough in said subject to
write their stories. Were they experts? Maybe some of them. Most of them,
however, had a working knowledge, enough truth to make their stories believable.
Know what you write.
We live in an amazing age right
now, where countless amounts of information are literally at our fingertips. We
have only to sit at the computer, type some search terms into a text box, and
learn. Read some basics about your subject, and then, read what experts say
about those basics. Read articles about your topic, and then read other
articles that critique those original articles. Learn what is going on in your
selected field, learn the continuing conversation among experts who continue to
push the envelope. From there, you will find the truths you need to strengthen
your story.
How will you know when you
successfully “know” your topic? When you can write about it, without directly
copying any of the information you researched, when you can successfully write
about a topic without plagiarizing your sources. Of course, anytime you
integrate research into your writing, plagiarism should be a concern.
Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional use of someone else's words
without giving them credit. Plagiarism
should be avoided at all costs, because simply copying what another writer is
saying isn't truly “knowing” a topic. Thankfully, in addition to providing
amazing resources for research, the Internet also provides ways to ensure your
work is original. At Grammarly, we offer one of the most sophisticated
plagiarism checks on the Internet. Our service will scan your text, comparing
it to documents all over the Internet, to let you know how original it truly
is. Doing this early in the process can save you headaches in the future.
Writing only what you know will
ultimately limit you as an author, which is never a good thing. When you write
fiction, you have limitless possibilities in narrative form and style, so why
shouldn't you have limitless possibilities in subject matter as well? Instead,
do your research and know what you write. You'll end up with a story that feels
real and organic, a story that draws your readers in with truth about its
subject.
Bio:
Nikolas discovered his love for
the written word in Elementary School, where he started spending his afternoons
sprawled across the living room floor devouring one Marc Brown children’s novel
after the other and writing short stories about daring pirate adventures. After
acquiring some experience in various marketing, business development, and
hiring roles at internet startups in a few different countries, he decided to
re-unite his professional life with his childhood passions by joining
Grammarly’s marketing team in San Francisco. He has the pleasure of being
tasked with talking to writers, bloggers, teachers, and others about how they
use Grammarly’s online proofreading application to improve their writing. His
free time is spent biking, traveling, and reading.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Thanks for a great post, Nick!
And as always, thanks for reading my blog!
