September 07th, 2017

Writers get advice all the time. "Use fewer adjectives," someone says. "Never use 'said,'" says--*ahem*--asserts​ someone else. But then, when the big-name writers come out and say to never use anything ​ but​ "said" as a dialogue tag, you can understand where the confusion comes in.
​One piece of advice that writers get a lot is "Write what you know." Okay. That sounds simple enough, because I've had plenty of exciting experiences! I can write about homeschooling and trips to the Shed Aquarium and how the toddler I was babysitting put popcorn in the watering can--
​But wait. These kinds of things don't make for the greatest stories. I can write a memoir, but not a novel, and definitely not a series.

​But in this video (youtu.be/1rMnzNZkIX0), Pete Docter (who directed Monsters, Inc.​ and a few other Pixar movies) talks about what it really​ means to write what you know. He said to take emotions, not events, that you have an intimate knowledge of. For example, I am chronically task-oriented. So when Alynn declared "I work or I die," I was writing what I knew.
​And this emotional charge is really what gives a book its oomph. For example, I'll take a story I've been working on called "Find Me" (it's available on Wattpad if anyone's interested). If it were just another stereotypical Indian-and-pioneer romance novel, it wouldn't get very far. But the protagonist, Running Horse, is constantly wavering between wanting a friend and wishing she'd never see another human being again. That basically sums up what it's like to be a social introvert--aka, me.
​Emotions show through your writing. I could write something about first-world problems and city slickers, and only two emotions would show: sarcasm and apathy. It wouldn't be my intention. But it would happen just the same, because I've neither lived in a large city nor understood why anyone would want to.
But if I were to write about small-town people, readers would be drawn to my characters--and my writing--because there's that extra hint of passion. In a way, emotions creep through the pen of a writer almost subconsciously. They are then transferred to the mind of the reader, who is enchanted by the writer's work and has a desire to read more of it.
​If you want to express that one emotion that's been burning inside of you, why not write a short scene in the comments? I'd love to read it! God bless you, dear readers, and don't forget to like us on Facebook!