[Note: Stephen is currently collecting data on what it’s like to experience a great deal of pain (for use in some future work of fiction, of course), so this post is gonna be short. He’s really counting on a couple of you providing the bulk of the post in the comments section. Bring on your wisdom.]
Okay, here’s the question of the day: How do you write a scene where a character experiences something you’ve never personally experienced? I mean things like shooting an innocent man. Jumping from a speeding car. Standing on stage in front of 100,000 adoring fans. Facing your greatest foe. Kissing someone who is not your spouse. Being told you have a terminal disease. Learning that your teenage daughter is pregnant.
Dying.
Yeah. These aren’t little things. Perhaps you’ve experienced some of them. (If so, you have my sympathies. Particularly if you’ve done the whole dying thing.) But I want to know how you approach the situations you haven’t experienced. And I’m not just talking about how you calculate the number of times you roll on the dusty ground after leaping from the car. I’m talking about the entire experience – especially the emotions that accompany the drama.
Does the loss of a favorite pet give you enough familiarity with ache to write a believable scene about the loss of a lover or a friend? Does the bitterness you felt toward a co-worker who took the last donut give you enough raw material to write a scene about a man who discovers his employees have been stealing from him?
Okay, floor’s yours. Talk amongst yourselves. Tell me what you know.
[Swallows pain pills, climbs into bed, closes eyes. It’s called research, people.]
Comments
10 responses to “How Do You Write What You Don’t Know?”
I’m sorry you’re going through such a hard time. 🙁
I’m not sure if I do an especially good job of writing about things I don’t know about. I try to stick somewhat close to home, but my story would be really boring if I only wrote about things I’ve experienced. The way I deal with situations I know little about is to put myself in the part like an actor. I dabbled a bit in acting as a teenager. (And I was pretty good if I do say so myself.) I imagine myself in the character’s position and feel, to some extent, what they feel. Sometimes it gets hard to write when my eyes get blurry or my heart is racing or my stomach turns somersaults, but it can be quite effective. I go with my gut feelings and if something isn’t right, surely I or someone else will catch it in the editing process.
Then there’s some things you just have to research. I’d much rather read about it than actually experience it. You’re very brave in your approach to research. 🙂
if it’s something that can be researched, it’s worth the time and effort to find out.
Then, in today’s tell-all world, more than likely someone has blogged about whatever it is you haven’t done. Or, it’s been featured on a reality show available on demand or via YouTube.
For all else, imagination. That’s how writers have always done it. What counts most is the emotion. That’s what draws in the reader.
I;m probably one to lean on my imagination, though like above, I might research what I can, too, if the subject needs it.
There’s something to be said to write from a fresh perspective, as maybe one may think up something not thought of from someone whom actually experienced the situation.
Hope something in this comment makes sense. 😀
Trust. In yourself. In your readers. When it comes to emotions in writing, I rely on my instincts. I wouldn’t call it “research,” but I think you can call upon the emotional reactions/behaviors of others that you have known when considering how to write them for a particular character.
As for writing pain, and the emotions that come with them, that is quite possibly the most difficult. (Sorry!) Because, at least in my personal experience, my reaction to /ability to get through the pain depends on the kind of pain and the reason for it. Suffering through pain of an unknown cause that leads to emergency surgery is quite different than anticipating and persevering through the pain of childbirth. And then, even the pain of childbirth is experienced differently the second and third times (in my case).
So, I guess just trust yourself and the experiences you have had and witnessed in your life. That’s what good fiction is, after all. A rendering of your imagination and your interpretations of a character, and a story.
For me, the easiest way to avoid the pitfalls of writing about things you haven’t experienced is this: don’t. It is nearly always best to write about what you know about.
However, this is not always practical, especially if you gravitate toward writing speculative fiction or science fiction, fantasy etc. etc.
The way I get around it is pretty basic. If my project is to write about ‘shooting an innocent man’ then I obviously cannot draw upon personal experience. What I CAN do is remember a time where I did something hurtful to another person. It doesn’t even have to be a major indiscretion, the key is to remember those feelings and then amplify them in the extreme – while still retaining the integrity of the pathos in guilt, inner turmoil and suffering of natural consequences.
This may seem like an oversimplification, at least – I hope it does. It doesn’t have to be difficult to write outside your box of experiences. Just pay attention to the details of smaller, lesser experiences to guide you in describing/writing about the larger, grander experiences you lack.
Method acting in my head. Find the motivation. Everyone thinks they are right at the moment of action. Find the justification the character is using and attach yourself to it and surf through the scene.
Hope you are getting things figured out. What I can’t find by researching I have to create because nothing exciting has happened to me. Ever. When I write I picture the characters and the scene as if it were a movie. I don’t think I really put myself in the shoes of the character but I can SEE how they are reacting and I know what they are feeling. Hmm, that sounds a bit nutty. My characters become their own people and are seperate from me, that’s how I can watch them. My formal training is in Film and screenwriting, perhaps I drew from that. I don’t know how people could ONLY write about what they know. Good luck!
On the emotional level, a combination of extrapolation and imagination. On the practical level, research.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
In terms of generating authentic or pertinent detail regarding an unfamiliar setting or process, I’ve found early draft-stage feedback from knowledgeable readers invaluable. A few pithy comments from someone who has “been there done that” are worth several buckets of google-spew. In terms of emotions, I find them hard to fake, so pretty much all my fiction is on some level autobiographical, albeit distanced and disguised.
I agree with all of the comments above.
Though many of us do not have any ‘real’ acting background, we do act the scene we wish to write, in our mind. Sometimes our pulse quickens, our hands become sweaty, because our man is going to shoot an innocent man. And then we zoom out and take a macro look from the heaven, to view it just as God would. Maybe we borrow from some scenes we have watched at the movies. If I cannot feel those emotions, I cannot express!
Carmi sent me here.