Guide To Fan Fiction: Ch.8 You Know What You Know, You Know?

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VII. You Know What You Know, You Know?
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I will admit right now to all and sundry that I couldn't write an action scene to save my life. I realized, much later, that the endings to two of my Gargoyles stories were remarkably similar. This annoys me. Basically, it's because I don't see violence in my head. I see verbal standoffs, tense negotiations, even psychological clashes taking place between two equally-matched opponents. I don't see space battles, and I certainly don't see fights between characters. Heck, when most people write crossovers, they have the characters from the different storylines fight one another. When I wrote "All Through the Night" (think: crossover with every part of the genre I could justifiably throw in), my characters threw a party. This is called Writing What You Know.

If you can think the thoughts of "the grunts," the soldiers who go out and do the real fighting, and if you can write a battle scene real enough so that your reader knows what it's like to be there, by all means, write it! Not everyone can do that. As I said, I certainly can't, and I admire anyone who can, and can do it well. Meanwhile, if you think in terms of who's going to marry whom, and what their children will be like, and how the relationship between this couple closely parallels the one between that couple, write about that! And if you can write both action and character interaction and maintain great plot and pacing, I think I may have to hate you.

Seriously, don't try writing what you don't see in your head. If you don't see the maneuvers of the Xanatos Corporate Guard getting into position, don't write a story about how they fought off an invasion of the Paisley Dragons. Likewise, if you honestly don't hear Captain Picard murmuring sweet nothings to Doctor Crusher, don't try to put in a scene with them snuggling just because it might appeal to a few more readers. Go with what you know and what you feel and what you see in your head. If it's real to you, you can make it real to the rest of us out here, and to hell with what the popular movement is this week. More people will remember a well-written story on something you know than a half-baked attempt at something you really don't care about much. This is not meant to point fingers at anyone; I am really hard-pressed to think of any stories that seem forced (gratuitous sex does occasionally fall under this category; again, it's a matter of doing it well). Also, if you think you might be good at a genre you haven't tried before, by all means, go for it. But do yourself and your reader the favor of learning about your subject, either through research or inquiry, before you post your final result.