“Where do you get your story ideas?”
“Are any of your characters based on yourself or people you know?”
The above are the two most frequently asked questions I hear from readers. The third most frequently asked question is, “How do you research your sex scenes?” This question is never asked by someone who has read my books, always asked by a male, and usually is asked each year at my husband’s company Christmas party after considerable imbibing on the part of the buffoon asking the question.
But I digress (Can you blame me? What are those knuckleheads thinking???)
Anyway, there’s a writing axiom that states, write what you know. To some extent this is sound advice, but it’s also extremely limiting advice. I have a good friend who writes stories populated with vampires, werewolves, selkies, and other assorted weird creatures of the paranormal world. My friend is neither a vampire, a werewolf, nor a selkie, and I have it on good authority that she’s never met any such creatures. So obviously she’s not writing what she knows from first-hand experience.
In Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception, my most recent release. I wrote about secrets and revenge and the lengths some people will go in order to bury the former and achieve the latter. The plot is ripe with scandal. Drugs. Violence. Blackmail. Political machinations. Attempted murder. My heroine is a wealthy widow whose abusive, cocaine-snorting, deceased husband was about as low as a low-life can get.
Write what you know?
Hmm…I’ve never done drugs (sinus and headache meds don’t count), never blackmailed anyone, never tried to kill anyone, never been involved in politics except to vote, and my husband is the complete opposite of my heroine’s husband. I’m also far from wealthy. Very far. So no, the characters in Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception are neither based on me nor anyone I know, and the story line is far from autobiographical. However, some of the plot lines in the book are loosely based on actual events, just not ones involving me.
I get my ideas for my characters and my plots from the world around me. I’m a die-hard news junkie who has always believed that truth is stranger than fiction. That belief is reaffirmed every time I pick up a newspaper or turn on the evening news. I’ll hear a news byte or read an article, then give the event a “what if” spin. The voices in my head take over from there, and the next thing I know, I’ve got the plot for another book.
In my upcoming series, the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, I do tap into my own experiences to some extent. My heroine is the crafts editor at a women’s magazine. Although I never worked as a magazine editor, I have worked for many magazines as a designer and did work for a few years as a craft book editor. Also, like my protagonist, I’ve raised teenage boys. However, with the exception of one other experience that I’ll keep to myself (you can always try guessing once the series comes out), what Anastasia and I have in common is far outweighed by our differences.
Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, won’t be released until January. However, Anastasia and the rest of the editorial staff at the magazine where she works are blogging daily at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers (http://anastasiapollack.blogspot.com), where you can find crafts projects, recipes, decorating tips and more. I hope you’ll stop by.
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Award-winning author Lois Winston writes humorous women’s fiction, romantic suspense and amateur sleuth mysteries. Visit her at http://www.loiswinston.com or Anastasia at http://anastasiapollack.blogspot.com.
Lois is a fellow Midnight Ink writer…and way too nice to actually know about scandal, drugs and blackmail. :)Thanks so much for guest posting today, Lois!
Elizabeth – Thanks for hosting Lois.
Lois – You make a well-taken point. Inspiration and the motivation to write come from all sorts of sources, not only what we know and have experienced. Sometimes, that other inspiration – the inspiration from what we’ve read or imagined, can be exciting and can really spur a story on. I don’t think it’s a matter of what we know as much as what stories we want to tell.
I love all of your titles, Lois! I agree that life is often stranger than fiction, but the stranger your life, the stranger you want your fiction! Thanks for stopping by.
Excellent post Lois.
I’m with Margot in that we need to remember to take inspiration from all around.
Thanks for sharing Elizabeth.
Great post. Thanks Elizabeth for introducing me to a “new to me” author and a couple of interesting new series.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Lois, I think ideas are floating in the air all around us. We just need to grabbed them and make note. Oh and then we need to use the imagination. Aren’t we lucky to have the world as our idea buffet?
Elizabeth, Thanks for hosting Lois.
Lois – so true. Nobody ever asks me about the crime side of my books, only about the sex scenes–and there really aren’t that many of them.
Great post. And why is it people would even think we know about mayhem and murder first hand?
Lois, fact is stranger than fiction! And none of my characters or situations are based on me or anyone else but a collage of the world around me. The news is an excellent resource.
Very true! I write science fiction and I promise, I’ve not ventured into space.
So true – I think ‘write what you know’ might be good advice for non-fiction authors but it certainly would place limitations on fiction writers.
Love the title of the first in the new series.
Thank goodness writers don’t write only what they have lived and know. We’d all be reading some pretty boring books. Or…maybe that’s just my life.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Lois – Had to stop for a second after the sex research bit. Too funny!
I’ll be heading over to your blog and checking out the book.
Elizabeth, thanks for having Lois.
Maribeth
Giggles and Guns
I agree write what you know is limiting. And what’s so frustrating is how this mantra perpetuates itself without caveats. Just because you aren’t familiar with something doesn’t mean you can never write about it. Do research, ask people questions. If you always strive to learn, the gap of what you don’t know is always shrinking….
Lois, I enjoy hearing what other writers think of the “write what you know” adage. Sometimes I think that phrase discourages true creativity. Thank you for your insight!
Elizabeth, another lovely guest. You are one well-connected lady!:)
I understand. I recently started writing a story about marital rape and of course, what was the reaction? It must be something I’ve experienced or know of someone who has experienced it. I don’t know where the story idea came from exactly but I do know that after doing extensive research on the subject, I know the story needs be written. Write what we know?
I hope not.
CD
Lois-It’s so true that life often doesn’t quite measure up to fictional intrigue, isn’t it? I write kidnappings and cults… never participated in either… I’ve never stolen art or been a spy… but applying what we know to situations that are more interesting gives the flavor of authenticity.
Checking out your blog now!
Elizabeth, thanks for hosting!
Sounds like a fun series! I think as long as we can imagine and empathize we’re able to write about a lot!
Thank you all for the warm welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed the post, and I hope I’ll see many of you stopping by to visit at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers .
Elizabeth, thanks so much for inviting me today.
Hi Lois! I think ‘write what you know’ is an encouragement to research. As long as you take the time to understand your subject, you do know it and can thus write with authority.
Thanks for sharing. :)
– Corra
from the desk of a historical writer
This comment has been removed by the author.
Whoops, sorry wrong comment on wrong blog! :)