Forget The 'C' Words For A Minute

I was reading another blog this morning. It spoke of writing what you know. That was, and probably is, the advise given out by those 'in-the-know.'

I remember, many years ago, thinking that I couldn't write because I knew nothing. My world was small. My family mundane. (I know differently now!) I'd watch 'I Remember Momma' and think, I'd like to write about my mom. She was incredible. But our life seemed so dull and ordinary. Why would anyone want to read about it? 

I think of Jules Verne. Wow. If he'd ever listened to such advise, we'd never have some of the glorious tales (and movies) that I grew up with. The same for Daniel Defoe and 'Robinson Crusoe.' I cut my teeth on the 'Lucky Star' series by Paul French, who it turned out was a nervous Isaac Asimov. 

Late in life, I write. Because it dawned upon me one day -- writing about what I know doesn't mean I can't write about living on the Moons of Jupiter. I know people. I know their wants and needs. I know how they suffer and laugh. These are the important things.These are the attributes that draw us to like or hate a character. 

With the internet, I am no longer hampered by the fact that I haven't seen the mountains of Tibet, or the oceans off New Zealand, or the vast expanses of the South Pole. I'd love to see these places in real life, but I can see them, probably even better, via the internet. Someone has been to these places. Someone has photographed or filmed living through a volcanic eruption. Someone has dove from the top of a waterfall into a crystal-clear, sky-blue lake. 

I can write about anything. I know that now. I've written a children's picture book. I've written an epic adult fantasy. I've written the first book in a three-part series of a Middle Grade fantasy. I'm in the mist of writing an adult science fiction and I've got the beginning (and the plot) for an adult romance novel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Starr_series

Life is variety - one way or the other. *g*