Should Fiction Writers Stick to What They Know?

A friend of mine from Northern Colorado Writers, Peter D. Springberg, MD, FACP, has started a new website and blog ("Eat like the Doc does") on healthy living with a focus on healthy eating.

Peter's medical and career credentials are very impressive. Even more important to his healthy lifestyle project and the weight loss manual he is writing, Peter practices what he teaches. He is trim and fit and full of energy.

This is a perfect example of writing what you know.

In addition to this project, Peter is working on a full-length memoir and also writes short stories. I found The Hat Decides at the website Immigrant Journeys. Since this story took place in the late 1800s, and Peter wasn't born until 1941, he had to learn about the historical context and the incident secondhand through stories and research, and then write the tale with dialogue and descriptive words to make it come alive.

This is an example of writing what you don't know.

Don't hesitate to write what you know, especially if you are, like Peter, an expert on a topic that will interest thousands of readers.

But don't let that little dictum we've heard so often--Write what you know--keep you from exploring new worlds in fiction. Listen to the stories of elders, read books in all genres, study nonfiction on topics of interest, and let your imagination run wild. If one certain fiction writer had stuck to what she knew, we wouldn't have Hogwarts, would we?

How about you? Do you stick to what you know? If not, how much time per week do you spend on research for your current project?

Colorado Author -- Carol Berg

"For Portier de Savin-Duplais, failed student of magic, sorcery's decline into ambiguity and cheap illusion is but a culmination of life's bitter disappointments. Reduced to tending the library at Sabria's last collegia magica, he fights off despair with scholarship. But when the King of Sabria charges him to investigate an attempted murder that has disturbing magical resonances, Portier believes his dreams of a greater destiny might at last be fulfilled..."as quoted from the publisher's synopsis at barnesandnoble.com.

Colorado author Carol Berg is an award-winning science fiction/fantasy genre writer whose newest book, The Spirit Lens, will be released next week. Northern Colorado authors will be able to see and talk to Carol and get books signed at her book launch event at Reader's Cove bookstore in Fort Collins on January 12th from 6:30 to 8:00 PM.


I had the pleasure of hearing Carol speak at a writers' event a year ago. Former software engineer turned epic fantasy writer, Carol willingly shared her experiences with the writing process and the journey to publication for some of her earlier works.

The intriguing covers shown here are for the two novels from The Lighthouse Duet, Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone.

Carol's blog can be found at Text Crumbs.

Bits and Pieces

Last Words on the Roku Digital Video Player

I watched 88 Minutes on my television screen last night via the Netflix Instant Play Queue and our new Roku Player. I give the process and convenience a thumbs up. The only thing that might be a problem for some viewers is that most of the new releases I looked up on the Netflix site were not yet available in streaming format. Doesn't matter to me, as I have lots of older movies in my DVD queue that do have the instant play option.


Good Reads from Colorado Authors

This week I read Mike Befeler's second Paul Jacobson Geezer-Lit Mystery, Living With Your Kids is Murder and Amy Kathleen Ryan's YA novel, Vibes. Loved them both. Note that Amy has a new book coming out in early 2010: Zen and Xander Undone.


Book Contests for Readers from Mystery Writers of America

Just a reminder. Mystery Writers of America gives books away every month in a contest for readers. You still have time to enter for December.


Harlequin Worldwide Mystery at eHarlequin.com

Harlequin Worldwide Mystery will publish The Prairie Grass Murders in mass market paperback in February. The book will only be available at eHarlequin.com.


Progress or Lack Thereof

A month ago I listed Five Things I Want to Accomplish in the Next 39 Days. I am proud to say I've upheld the writer's tradition and procrastinated to the point I can now be certain I will fail on all five items. I will admit I'm close to finishing the first draft of the suspense novel, but it now looks as though I'll be about 10,000 words short on December 31st. (Shrug) Whatever.

Totally Cool Contraption Saves the Day

I love to read, but reading is not a mindless activity. When I read, I think. I keep my brain fully engaged. Television, on the other hand, is what I like to do in the evening. It's a different kind of fantasy world. As a result, when the television season screeches to an abrupt halt for the holiday season, I feel as though my brain is crying out for visual stimulation, for color, for action, for easy entertainment.

My brain wants MOVIES!

In the old days, I would have gone to half a dozen theater showings over the holidays weeks. It's easier now. I subscribe to Netflix (the three-DVD plan), and I have a Blockbuster card for emergencies. So far I've watched Australia, Inglourious Basterds, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Julie and Julia, My Sister's Keeper, Star Trek, New in Town, and the first two discs of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I have Is Anybody There? and Defiance waiting by the DVD player.

On top of that, I've read two books this week and also worked on my novel. I went into Christmas Day wondering how many more books I would read and how many more movies I'd need to rent to get me through my resting hours.

Then we opened our Christmas gift from my oldest son.

He bought us a Roku digital video player. This totally cool contraption hooks up to the televison and the internet and allows the user to buy movies from several different providers. The great part, however, is that the service is covered as part of the normal Netflix monthly rental fee. For not one cent more, I can watch a whole slew of movies from Netflix without waiting for the DVD to show up in the mail. And I can watch the movie instantly if it's already in my Instant Queue. And I can log on to my internet account, select another movie, add it to my Instant Queue, then go down to my television and watch it there. Before we opened that package and I stared at the Roku box, wondering what the heck it was, I did not know there was such a thing as a digital video player option for television via Netflix. And it's so cool.

Dear husband hooked up the Roku yesterday and we tested it to make sure it works. Yay! The first evening he's not glued there watching football or basketball, I'll watch my first instant movie, just because I can.

I know. You're asking, what does this have to do with writing? Sounds more like an infomercial for Netflix and Roku. Uhhh, well, if you're thinking about writing a movie script, or a script for a television series, you need to do research by watching lots of movies and series (on DVD...or via your digital video player). Right? Absolutely.

My Christmas Wish for Kids Around the World

I grew up on a farm in east central Illinois. My dad was a tenant farmer in those days, so we didn't have a lot of money. It didn't bother my brother and me very much. We didn't know we were poor. Poverty doesn't have a lot of meaning for a kid if he has a roof over his head and plenty of food to eat. Farm kids were lucky that way.

When I was six we moved to a farm that became my home until I was out of high school. We had an outhouse instead of an indoor toilet. We hand-pumped ice-cold water into the house. If I remember correctly, we only had to get through that first winter before my dad and uncle installed indoor plumbing. Judging by my memory of the freezing rim on the metal chamber pot, it was a mighty cold winter. One of my best memories is the one of my mother warming flannel sheets on the oil-burning stove in the living room and racing into the ice-cold bedroom to bundle each of us up against the cold, then piling blankets and quilts on top. It didn't bother my brother and me that the bedrooms were unheated, as long as we had a mom to tuck us in with heated blankets.

I went to a grade school in a small town at least ten miles from where I lived. My brother and I were the first kids on the bus in the morning and the last off at night. Because of all the farm kids on the route, the trip for us was over an hour each direction. Our school covered first grade through eighth grade, with one teacher for each two grades. The teachers alternated the two classes, and we studied while the other class was in session. We had pencil and paper and books and our minds. We had a ride to school and willing teachers. It never occurred to us we might be deprived because our teachers taught two grades in one room or that some of the books we used were very old.

For kids all around the world, I wish shelter, good food, cozy blankets, a loving mom and dad with high expectations, dedicated teachers, and plenty of books.

Colorado Author -- Leslie Jimmerson

I met Leslie Jimmerson at The Reader's Cove in Fort Collins the day I was signing there. She had a copy of her book, The World's Too Small for Walls: The Berlin Wall Book with her, and she was kind enough to stop by my signing table for a chat and to show me her stunning piece of photo history. I had heard about the book recently (November was the 20th anniversary of the wall's demise) as there had been coverage by 9News.com as well as a nice article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan. I was pleased to get a first hand look at this hardback collection of photos of the murals and graffiti originally painted on the remaining chunks of wall, later named the East Side Gallery.

Jimmerson was in Berlin before the celebratory sandblasting and replacement of the art, and she came home with 700 photos and an idea. By pairing the art with relevant quotations, she has created a lasting memorial to the original East Side Gallery art and provided her own interpretation, through the words of others, of what this freedom art meant to the people of Berlin and around the world.

The World's Too Small for Walls: the Berlin Wall Book is available only at The Creative Underground at Timeless Creations. The book is listed in the sidebar on the left.

Blog Posts You'll Want to Read

During a writing break, I went blog-cruising to find good reads:

Rookie Lessons for New Bloggers by Katie Kimball on Problogger. I saw this link on Twitter.

Marketing Tips Around the Net: December 18 by Tony Eldredge on Marketing Tips for Authors.

How I Got My Agent by Kody Keplinger at Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents.

I hope you're having a great day.