Writers are creative people. We love to explore new territories in our writings, something that can be accomplished by concocting new characters, exploring vibrant settings and of course, the amazing stories themselves. However, writers are also told to “write what you know” to be authentic. To resolve these conflicting realities of staying creative and owning our facts to be authentic, is easy. Writers simply need to thoroughly understand a topic and have their characters explore these new worlds.
As the post above suggests, don’t try to write about a farm if you have never been on one. You will be exposed as naively inaccurate. As a result, you will lose your audience. Writing about what you know has a purpose; it creates trust between you and the reader. If they don’t believe your words, they will not read them and move on. This does not in anyway, however, prevent you from gaining knowledge in different area out of your expertise. Learning something new is what keeps writing fun and exciting .
Happy writing!
J.S. Jenson