It's Not Me, It's You

No, that's a lie. I think writing what you know is a good exercise, if what you are writing warrants doing that. Sticking with what you know also gives you the opportunity to focus on the nuts and bolts. When an instrumentalist learns a new piece with a solo in it, he doesn't make the solo his own before he learns the ins and outs the composer gave him. It's the same concept with writers, when you're working on dialogue, for example, you can focus on learning the creation of good dialogue more precisely if you write what you know during your practice. Getting creative with the story line or subject matter shifts focus. At least, it does for me.

On my blog, my topics are, for the most part, things I know. I occasionally branch out and explore other topics. Inspiration comes out of nowhere and I enjoy seeing where it takes me. I love to share that ride with others, because you never know what will spark a comment, which sparks another piece. But, I find writing what I know to be an easier way to practice the work of writing. Sometimes doing the work and getting words on paper is more important than having an original thought. Besides, if you listen to the theorists, there are no original thoughts if even monkeys can recreate Shakespeare.

That being said, writing what you know can hamstring you. Why write only what you know? That's a recipe for burn-out.

Writing only what you know-or in only one genre-isn't being fair to your writing self. We're told often enough to "think outside the box." That's where the unknown is, and where growth begins.

Ironically, I'm not telling you what you don't already know. When you get out of the proverbial box, you open yourself to new ideas, new muses. It may be all you need to get out of a rut and move forward. It can broaden your mind, and maybe make the difference you need to put your writing out there.

There's another advantage to writing outside the box. You don't bore yourself. I know it can be argued that you won't bore yourself if you write about different characters and plot twists every time. Don't you ever get tired of reading the same author? I hesitate to use the word "formulaic," but there are some things you can expect from some authors. Like in scary movies-the minority character always dies, so does the jerk no one likes (especially if he redeems himself in the eyes of the female lead), and the blonde always goes into the darkened room when the creepy music has us yelling at her not to.

There are genres I believe I'm not very good at, like fiction. And dialogue. My dialogue sucks. But I write them. I happen to think poetry is something I do pretty well with. And this newly-named genre called "creative nonfiction." Nonfiction is something I enjoy writing, and it lets me be as snarky as I want to be, and sometimes can't be in real life. It's a broadening process, learning and building.

Both my senior creative writing teacher and my sophomore English teacher told us that we first have to learn the rules-grammar, writing, speaking, whatever. Once we've mastered the rules, then we can muck 'em up a bit. I don't naively assume that I'll master all the rules of writing, especially when every genre seems to have its own set of rules, but I will attempt to become a jack of all trades, so to speak. Actually, I'll become a Jayne of all trades, but I suppose that's a bit of hair-splitting.

We've all heard (and maybe said!) the old relationship cliché "It's not you, it's me." I think that applies to what we write as well. Sometimes, it's not what we're writing, it's that we are the ones writing it. But it goes both ways. Sometimes it is what we're writing, not us, because we think it's what we're "supposed" to write. I've been trained to think I'm supposed to date a certain type of man, but maybe the reason I've had failed relationships isn't me-it's because I haven't moved out of that prescribed...uh...genre! Admitting that is the first step to getting out of a rut we don't have to be in. Like G.I.Joe told us, knowing is half the battle.

Say it with me now..."It's not me, it's you." Now, go. Pick something you don't normally write or write about and play. Write like the wind, Tonto.

Seriously...go.