Write what you know...?

I'm reading a book by Stephen King, no not that kind of book, its called 'On Writing by Stephen King', the first hundred or so pages are basically a brief biography centred around how he became a writer, and the rest are his thoughts on how to go about becoming a writer.

Don't get me wrong, he's not saying, Do what i do or Do as i say, he gives a rough guide to those of us who are aspiring writes, those of us who believe we have something to offer, he gives a starting point, he also tells us how he goes about the writing process, preferring to sit and start rather then spending time in character development or writing up plot guide lines, he said that if he is wrting a suspence thirller and he isn't exactly sure of what is going to happen next, then neither is the audience, i guess that makes sense however daunting it may seem, to start a book of roughly one hundred thousand words or more and not know how its going to turn out, but i guess thats what being a writer is all about. Take this blog, i had no idea what i was going to write, i just sat down and started. I have a character and a situation to solve, or not, so i have a starting point, and tonight i'm going to start the first chapter of my book.

King also said that routine is important, and that you should write a set amount every day, and read lots of books, these of course stand to reason, but also that, for the beginner, imitationis a given. We all have our favorite genres, i for one like Horror, Spy thrillers and Sci-Fi, so i guess i'll be writing along those lines, i also like to read them and that my first few books would be imitations of what i have read, as i read this in On Writing i thought about my idea, which is an imitation, after reading that i felt a little better about doing it that way. King says to set a daily target like one thousand words, roughly 5 pages, to "shut the door" which i though was a metaphor for shut out everything including your family and friends, he said to allow yourself to shut that door, if you have a window close the curtains unless your view is of a brick wall, i guess to shut out all distractions, unplug the television if one is near so your not temped to turn it on and catch your shows, Television he says gets in the way of writing, finish your daily target then watch your shows. King says that he listens to loud rock music while he writes, it helps to block out any other noise that might encroach.

Write what you know, we here this all the time but does it really work that way, i think not, neither does King, a referrence he used was The Firm by John Grisham, about an attorney working for the Mafia, now, Grisham was an attorney at some point but, as King says, i'm pretty sure he didn't and never has worked for the Mob, but The Firm is a believable depiction of it. So even though writing what you know is a good idea, its not a rule of writing, writers can always pull on their imaginations, after all isn't that what fiction is.

Well, without knowing how this blog was going to turn out or what i was going to write in it, it turned out okay.