Comments on: How Acting Makes Better Writers

By: superwench83

superwench83 — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:17:01 +0000

Exactly! Your experiences inform your choices. That’s what I think that “Write what you know” means. For example, my current WIP is set in rural Pennsylvania German country in the 1700s. If you look at “Write what you know” in a literal sense, I don’t KNOW that because I’ve never lived it. But I know rural communities from having lived in one for pretty much my whole life. I use my experiences to inform my writing. So when you look at “Write what you know” in this light, I think it’s fantastic advice.

Glad you enjoyed the post!

By: Justin Allen

Justin Allen — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:13:24 +0000

This is a wonderful post…. I really enjoyed it. As to one of your later points, you are correct in that “write what you know” sounds like pure balderdash to a fantasy writer. But… if you make that “write what you think you know” then I think you can get some mileage. Write with authority!!! And yes, use your experiences to inform your choices!

By: Tia Nevitt

Tia Nevitt — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:26:07 +0000

Cool, so now I don’t feel so geeky!

By: superwench83

superwench83 — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:06:32 +0000

While I’ve played my share of role-playing games, I’ve never based any characters off of them. But the idea for author Marie Brennan’s book Midnight Never Come came from a role-playing game.

By: Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:42:28 +0000

Oh, I have used a series of short stories and vignettes to develop the same characters from different angles. That’s still not exactly like any anyone else mentioned, but Tia’s pilot scenes remind me of them. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

By: Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:39:06 +0000

I really haven’t used either acting or role-playing to develop characters. The closest I got was writing a story related to a module I’d worked up. That just isn’t the same. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

By: Tia Nevitt

Tia Nevitt — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:50:38 +0000

I know role-playing games aren’t exactly fashionable — and in fact, they are the epitome of geekdom — but it would probably surprise no one to learn that I do play role-playing games. In one game that I ran as game master, I introduced an extremely tall and muscled woman named Abriel Korpesh. I was test-driving her for a novel I wanted to write. When I transferred her from character sheet to character sketch, I toned down the muscle, darkened her skin, and refined her character. I discovered what didn’t work and was able to eliminate them before I even started the novel.

Another character, Tory from my regency fantasy, was partially based on a kick-ass character I played long ago. I dropped the kick-ass ability but kept her penchant for making friends of everyone. And I kept her tendency of getting into trouble when her charms don’t quite work like they usually do.

Nowadays when I write, I like to spend some time writing scenes that I’ll probably never use. I call these pilot scenes, because they steer me in the direction in which I need to take the character. And often, I don’t know what that direction is until I write the scene. I just come up with a situation and let the character’s actions dictate. These are sometimes introspective, sometimes sexy and sometimes action-packed. The ones that progress the story get to stay. The rest go into the deleted scenes folder.