Voice and writing what you know…
Write what you know.
How many times have you heard that? I am guessing if you’ve been at this any amount of time… quite a few. What’s that? You write fantasy and you’ve invented a whole new world entirely in your head so how could you possibly write what you know?
I am here to let you in on a little secret… that isn’t what ‘write what you know’ means! Do you think JRR Tolkien knew a tiny creepy grey guy consumed with greed that lived in a cave? Probably not. But, chances are he did know a thing or two about greedy people and how they acted… so he applied that to his story.
Let’s use my book as an example. It’s a super hero novel with a sixteen year old main character. Well, I know a thing or two about being sixteen, but I don’t know a lot about having super powers. So, I have to make that part up. Fortunately, because I can write like a sixteen year old girl, my character is believable. So, that’s the key… find the things you know or the things that are similar to your every day and fit them into the voice of your characters.
It’s okay to invent a new world… just keep a little bit of reality in the characters, and your story will work!
