The troubles trying to tell a story through no life experience abound. They say to write what you know. But if you spend all your life behind a keyboard, what do you know? What you read on the internet? Good luck with that. But then again, you could be writing fantasy and all you need is your imagination and nimble fingers.
They say a lot of things. I’ve talked about “they” before. They being the voices along hedges who know all the rules. So, “write what you know” is an edict that pays off in authenticity. So, choose your point of view wisely. Or make up things with enough confidence to fool them. To fool the reader is what writing is all about.
I sound like a burnt-out wannabe looking for a way to make some gelt. Like I know anything about writing that people would want to pay for. All I know is my process. That is all these blog posts are, a process. A process of trying to understand my voice and whether it’s worth a damn. Because we are told we all have a story to tell.
What is yours to tell? Are your stories the only stories you can tell? Can only criminals write crime stories? What about science fiction? Do you have to be from the future to write sci-fi? No, that’s ludicrous, right. Anyone can write about anything. But there should be some acceptable parameters. The first one is to find your lane and stay in it.
And how does one find this lane? Through voice. More clearly, through surety of voice. All you have to do is make sure people believe the voice is authentic. But that is harder than you think. It takes consistency. Where do you find that consistency in yourself? What do I know that can come across as authentic? It is something that I’ve had to learn the hard way.
I’ve learned some things about myself that aren’t pretty. These are things that many men like me deny or court, depending on where they fall politically. Things like privilege and racism that we are oblivious to but benefit from anyway. But privileges are like breathing. Involuntary and unseen, they fester. And damned if we know how to root them out if we are left unaware.
Awareness is what I’m choosing. Acknowledgment as well. And a way to bend them to my advantage as a writer. How can I write what I know when what I know is a sham?
Josh Mayhall 