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I always thought 'write what you know' was the worst advice for fiction
For years I avoided it, thinking it would make my stories boring. Then, for a class in Seattle, I wrote a 2,000 word piece about my dad's old auto shop, and the teacher said it was my best work by far. The specific, real details made the whole story feel alive. Has anyone else had a prompt or rule they hated that actually worked?
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alicemurphy2h ago
Ngl I always took that advice way too literally. It's not about writing your exact life, it's about using the real stuff you've seen and felt to make the made-up parts feel solid. My best character came from giving my grandma's stubbornness to a spaceship mechanic.
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max2231h ago
Your grandma was a spaceship mechanic?
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