Ken Kesey said: “One of the dumbest things you were ever taught was to write what you know. Because what you know is usually dull. Remember when you first wanted to be a writer? Eight or 10 years old, reading about thin-lipped heroes flying over mysterious viny jungles toward untold wonders? That’s what you wanted to write about, about what you didn’t know. So. What mysterious time and place don’t we know?”
Write about what you don’t know. Do you agree?
Kaye’s writing prompt for today: “Look in the mirror and write a flash story about what you cannot see with your physical eyes.”
4 Comments on “Write about what you don’t know”
I totally agree. If fiction writers were only to write about that which they know, how would all those fantastic worlds evolve. . .the ones that only the creative mind can invent.
Thanks for your input Delphine. I like your thinking. Some of those worlds are way beyond anything we can even imagine, but writers imagine them anyway! k.
Keats said Shakespeare had “negative capability” meaning he was capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.
For me all writing is mystery. There are writers who churn out books that are planned and outlined, formulaic. I avoid their work. I want to start with what I know and go to the unknown. If I know the whole of something, then getting there is not fun for me or anyone who reads me.
Ellen,
Thanks for your astute reply. I like your style – moving along the road of familiarity to the unfamiliar and learning along the way. k.