I used to roll my eyes at the 'write what you know' advice for new writers.

For years, I thought it was a boring rule that would stop people from making cool stories. I wanted my students to write about dragons and space battles, not their own lives. Then, last semester, I gave a prompt about a character finding a lost object. One kid wrote about his grandpa's old pocket watch, and the details were so clear and real it made the whole class quiet. He knew the sound it made, the weight of it, the smell of the old leather case. His other stories were good, but this one felt alive. It made me see that 'write what you know' isn't about limiting your ideas, it's about using the small, true things you've felt to make any idea feel real, even the fantasy ones. Has anyone else had a prompt that completely changed how they see a basic writing rule?

4 comments

4 Comments

stella11119d agoTop Commenter

My first year teaching, I gave a "write a scary story" prompt and got twenty nearly identical haunted house drafts. Then one kid wrote about the specific, creepy sound his apartment's radiator made at night. Totally changed my lesson plan for the next week.

skyler21719d ago

Wow, I always pushed for big scares until @stella111 showed me the quiet ones hit harder.

garcia.mila19d ago

Totally! My best monster story came from a real, creepy truck stop bathroom, just like @stella111 said.

zarat3719d ago

My third draft was all space elves until I remembered my weird aunt's holiday dinners.