Guest Blog Post, by Bodge
Write what you know? Write what you love!
First off I what to thank trystan830 for letting me write this guest blog, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen her post a guest so it’s pretty awesome of her.
Right now I can almost hear you all rolling your eyes. Everyone who gets published thinks they know everything about how to do it. Everyone feels like they need to tell us how to do it.
I’ll be the first one to tell you I know crap about writing. I haven’t been doing it all of my life. It wasn’t a childhood dream. I wasn’t an English major. In fact I was an Agriculture major. I run a warehouse for a small business as my primary job. I have a learning disability.
I think that’s why ‘write what you know’ has never made a lot of sense to me. If I wrote what I knew my stories would be pretty dull. I’m not Terry Pratchett, I doubt I could sell a story about sheep. Heck I can’t even really get inspired to write a story about sheep. And have you ever read an exciting story about a warehouse?*
I don’t want to write what I know.
What I do write about? I write about what I love. I have to love what I’m writing about; since I don’t know the world that I am writing about inside and out, I have to be willing to spend a lot of time doing research.
I love shape-shifters and I love hockey.
Obviously I’ve never changed forms and my hockey playing has been limited to playing goalie for street hockey. So what to do?
I read a lot. That sounds stupid, but it is true. And I save all the books that I read on a subject my bookshelves are crammed with books about wolves, hyenas, birds of prey, even rats. As well as books on folklore, some on specific topics like shape-shifters or vampires some are about the lore of specific areas, like say Finland.
I watch a lot of hockey. Not as much now, since it is August, but during the season. And I don’t just watch NHL, I also watch international hockey and college hockey as well. I don’t just watch ‘my teams’ I try to take in as many games from as many markets as I can.
I also read quite a bit about hockey, and not just the fun stuff. I’ve read about year round conditioning, sports psychology and sports business.
My husband played hockey in several local leagues in Massachusetts and my brother in law still does. I have people I can go to with questions. I have friends who are fans of other teams so I can ask them if something I want to use is common or if it is ‘just a Bruins thing.’ (trystan830 has gotten few calls along the line of ‘do the Flyers have a 7th player award?’ )
I find that when I am writing I need to spend a lot of time with my characters when I am writing and need to make sure they are involved with things I enjoy. If they aren’t I find I get bored with them. I once started a story set in a restaurant, because I like to eat, but I couldn’t keep up with the research that I needed to make the story sing or the characters to walk on their own.
I found that making sure there is something in my character’s life that I am willing to spend time learning about. It helps me get into their world. It helps me bring them into mine.
*As an aside, I have heard that H.P. Lovecraft worked as a watchman in a warehouse in Providence. I have no idea if it is true or not. He does mention warehouses from time to time in a way that makes me think it may be true.
You can read Bodge's works, Box of Cows (Suburban Fantasy ) and Rebuilding Year (Paranormal), online.
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First off I what to thank trystan830 for letting me write this guest blog, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen her post a guest so it’s pretty awesome of her.
Right now I can almost hear you all rolling your eyes. Everyone who gets published thinks they know everything about how to do it. Everyone feels like they need to tell us how to do it.
I’ll be the first one to tell you I know crap about writing. I haven’t been doing it all of my life. It wasn’t a childhood dream. I wasn’t an English major. In fact I was an Agriculture major. I run a warehouse for a small business as my primary job. I have a learning disability.
I think that’s why ‘write what you know’ has never made a lot of sense to me. If I wrote what I knew my stories would be pretty dull. I’m not Terry Pratchett, I doubt I could sell a story about sheep. Heck I can’t even really get inspired to write a story about sheep. And have you ever read an exciting story about a warehouse?*
I don’t want to write what I know.
What I do write about? I write about what I love. I have to love what I’m writing about; since I don’t know the world that I am writing about inside and out, I have to be willing to spend a lot of time doing research.
I love shape-shifters and I love hockey.
Obviously I’ve never changed forms and my hockey playing has been limited to playing goalie for street hockey. So what to do?
I read a lot. That sounds stupid, but it is true. And I save all the books that I read on a subject my bookshelves are crammed with books about wolves, hyenas, birds of prey, even rats. As well as books on folklore, some on specific topics like shape-shifters or vampires some are about the lore of specific areas, like say Finland.
I watch a lot of hockey. Not as much now, since it is August, but during the season. And I don’t just watch NHL, I also watch international hockey and college hockey as well. I don’t just watch ‘my teams’ I try to take in as many games from as many markets as I can.
I also read quite a bit about hockey, and not just the fun stuff. I’ve read about year round conditioning, sports psychology and sports business.
My husband played hockey in several local leagues in Massachusetts and my brother in law still does. I have people I can go to with questions. I have friends who are fans of other teams so I can ask them if something I want to use is common or if it is ‘just a Bruins thing.’ (trystan830 has gotten few calls along the line of ‘do the Flyers have a 7th player award?’ )
I find that when I am writing I need to spend a lot of time with my characters when I am writing and need to make sure they are involved with things I enjoy. If they aren’t I find I get bored with them. I once started a story set in a restaurant, because I like to eat, but I couldn’t keep up with the research that I needed to make the story sing or the characters to walk on their own.
I found that making sure there is something in my character’s life that I am willing to spend time learning about. It helps me get into their world. It helps me bring them into mine.
*As an aside, I have heard that H.P. Lovecraft worked as a watchman in a warehouse in Providence. I have no idea if it is true or not. He does mention warehouses from time to time in a way that makes me think it may be true.
You can read Bodge's works, Box of Cows (Suburban Fantasy ) and Rebuilding Year (Paranormal), online.
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