Virtually every writer has heard the sage advice, “Write what you know.” But what does that mean, really?
Sure, I could probably spin a yarn or two about raising teenage girls, or my lifelong fear of mice, or the time I was an exchange student in Germany, but honestly, I don’t see the market banging down my door for these stories.
That explains why, when I set out to become a published author more than 14 years ago, I decided to begin with a memoir. Titled Bank Robbers, Spirit Guides, and a Little Slice of Heaven, my query got a fair number of requests from agents, but it didn’t go anywhere. And no wonder — I had no idea how to write a novel, much less a memoir!
Undaunted, I began studying craft and turned my attention to writing something else I knew: book two was set in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where my mother had opened a gift shop. Once again, the story didn’t quite work. But I wasn’t ready to give up.
My third manuscript featured a child who traveled the country on a renovated school bus and it was –– you guessed it –– inspired by a portion of my own childhood. It won’t surprise you to know that my fourth and fifth manuscripts were also inspired by real-life events.
But something interesting happened while writing my fifth story: Not only had my writing improved dramatically, but I also allowed myself to explore the fantasy genre for the first time. While the story was still inspired by a real trip I’d taken, I finally let myself depart from the contemporary, realistic stories that made up the fabric of life as I’d always known it. And guess what? This story worked. Or very nearly, anyway.
By the time I started my sixth manuscript (another fantasy), I realized that I’d found my stride — my voice as an author, as a storyteller. And it wasn’t because I wrote what I knew. In truth, my debut novel, The Wolf’s Curse , was inspired by the narrator Markus Zusack’s The Book Thief. It could be argued that my debut novel is the exact opposite of anything I know: I’ve never lived in renaissance France; I’ve never been a carpenter (or a wolf); and I’ve certainly never met the Grim Reaper.
And yet, The Wolf’s Curse is probably more quintessentially me than anything else I’ve ever written. Because I let myself play with language in a way that I’d always been too scared to do. Because I let myself play with voice in a way that was more fun than I’d ever had. Because I wrote about themes that I care about deeply –– about loss and grief, about belonging and traditions, about socio-economic injustices, about hope.
That’s not to say that writers shouldn’t use inspiration from their own lives. Author AJ Sass wrote a wonderful novel about ice skating based on their own passion for the sport. Rajani LaRocca penned a novel in verse that harks back to her childhood in the 1980’s, and the calls for #ownvoices stories are stronger than ever.
But hopefully my (very long) journey can serve as a reminder that writing “what you know” doesn’t always have to be literal. It’s a missive to bring to your writing your own world view, your own way of thinking, your own fears and passions, and to write the story that only you can tell –– exploring familiar themes based on everything you know, and maybe a little you don’t.
Jessica Vitalis is a Columbia MBA-wielding writer. After leaving home at 16, Vitalis explored several careers before turning her talents to middle grade literature. She brings her experience growing up in a nontraditional childhood to her stories, exploring themes such as death and grief, domestic violence, and socio-economic disparities. With a mission to write thought-provoking and entertaining literature, she often includes magic and fantastical settings. As an active volunteer in the kidlit community, she’s also passionate about using her privilege to lift up other voices. In addition to volunteering with We Need Diverse Books and Pitch Wars, she founded Magic in the Middle, a series of free monthly recorded book talks, to help educators introduce young readers to new stories. An American expat, she now lives in Canada with her husband and two precocious daughters. She loves traveling, sailing and scuba diving, but when she’s at home, she can usually be found reading a book or changing the batteries in her heated socks.