Page 30 - Voices-2022-02

JUST WRITE

Write What You Know

Ken Coomes, DTM

You’ve probably heard it said to “write what you
know.” If not, take my word for it - many who
write about writing share this advice. Of course

it’s not literally true. Mystery writers don’t commit
murder, or solve true mysteries (for the most part.)
I doubt if Tolkien met an Ent, or visited Mordor.
The premise behind this advice is authenticity.

And even tale-spinning fiction writers can take
this to a point. Jack London took on many jobs,
to broaden his experience and bring credibility
to his writing. He worked in a cannery, as an

oyster pirate, a sealer, worked in a jute mill,
and he was a tramp. He even served time for
vagrancy.
He joined his brother-in-law, sailing to

the Klondike during the gold rush. You
may know him best for his book “Call of
the Wild” (I loved it as a child, and as a
re-read recently). It seems like much

of the authenticity in that book came
mainly from that adventure.
In today’s world we can “know”
a lot more, with a lot less effort and

risk. Just ask Siri (or Alexa, Cortana,
Google . . .) Using Google Earth (or
some other satellite mapping imagery), or simply
browsing the web, you can visit (virtually) almost

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