Reader Friday: How Far From Yourself Can You Go?

This is a cartoon from a 1930s edition of Writer’s Digest. What is it saying? Since it is not “writing what you know,” it’s something else entirely. 


Today, discuss how far you think a writer can reasonably go, away from his or her own life. What are the dangers? The rewards? 

How far away have you ever gone? How’d that work out for you?

20 thoughts on “Reader Friday: How Far From Yourself Can You Go?

  1. The farthest I’ve gone is to other planets in my scifi romances. In Starlight Child, my third romance, I based a planetary culture on amphibians. These humanoid frog descendants live underground and have many other habits similar to their species, although they’ve developed intrigue and betrayal same as humans. I had fun writing that story and creating that world. As for my Bad Hair Day mysteries, they’re closer to home.

  2. This is an area that I have a bit of a problem … research.
    It seems that there is but little information on the subject or I have been searching in the wrong places.
    In my WIP StarLight Starbright, the information that I am seeking has to do with the remote viewing, out of body episodes and even Psychological Operations of our government, the Russians and Chinese.
    Although knowing quite allot about these procedures, it is nothing compared to the actual operatives or handler, and the departments conducting those operations.
    I was in Washington DC over the weekend and a friend I visited suggested I write the military Department, and request information from the Freedom of Information act.
    I had never thought of it.
    Perhaps I could interview former Remote viewers, however since I am an unknown author, and have no published works under my belt so-to-speak, I feel a bit insignificant.
    The rewards that I could find are credible work, and a sense of pride that I did it.
    The hazards, are I may get on the governments—”people to watch” list:)

    • Dave,
      I live under a rock so I had to go Google remote viewing. Fascinating! And until 1995 it was being seriously studied by the U.S. military. I’m guessing no one in the govt would talk to ANYONE about this but that doesn’t mean you can make up alot of really juicy stuff that’s loosely based on reality. Hey, that’s what Dan Brown did.

  3. Gosh, aliens, Russians, Chinese, all I’m trying to write is a female MC and that’s hard enough for an old man (I look like the cartoon above). I’m reading a lot of books with female MC written by woman and snooping into conversations in coffee shops. I find the normal reaction to events are different than my own. Conversations are different. How the hell did I get this old and not get this before? So any help from the writers on this site would be welcome.

    • Brian, I’m in the same place where the main character of my book is a teenage girl. One advantage I seem to have is, having raised three of them, I’m pretty good at getting into their heads. Eldest daughter laughs because she says I do a great job of channeling my inner girl.

      So that would be my advice – stop reading the books that will not give you a true look inside their heads.

      When I run into a roadblock, I try dropping all the way into my character’s head – ‘What is Callie feeling right now?’ I don’t worry about why but go right to feeling. If I get the feeling, the why opens up – usually not the way that I thought.

  4. I’m not sure that I ever really get away from myself when I write. I seem to build up characters in my head and until they ‘talk’ to me, I have no real idea what I’m going to write.

    So right now, I have a primary work in progress with teenage girls, a baby novella with a 9 year old girl and an old man (I’m closer to an old man.

    I have plans for a book based in Kenya – which I can find on a map but have never visited. Before I can write it, I’ll have to go and visit for six months or a year so I can get in their heads, understand the rhythms. Hopefully a plot will show up too.

  5. Good question with levels of answers. I’ve definitely never taken it to other planets, but I’m a female who prefers writing male characters, so you have to be on your toes to be sure you are looking at things from the male perspective.

    And certainly my characters have adventures and face situation far beyond the likely scope of my life. Since I write historical, the Arizona I write about is a far different one then the industrialized place we know today.

    But emotionally, I guess I never get that far away from myself. Because at the heart of whatever a character is dealing with, on some level, it bears similarity to something I have or am trying to deal with even though circumstances may not be the same.

    But then I wouldn’t want to get too far away from me emotionally because then the work wouldn’t be mine.

  6. We often question whether we should write from different gender/race/experiences yet we don’t seem to bat an eye when we slip into the skin of a serial killer?

    If your powers of observation and empathy aren’t strong enough to write outside your limited world then I’m not sure you have the right stuff to be a novelist.

    Madame Bovary, c’est moi. (or all of us!)

    • PJ, excellent point. I agree. To me, writing a novel necessitates jumping into someone else’s head. Once you’re there, once you’re doing that type of writing (as opposed to, say, poetry), then serial killer – young girl – old man – alien frog isn’t really that big of a difference, I think.

  7. I feel like the puppet master. I concocted a character with the head of a monkey and body of a dog. He smoked cigars, told off-color jokes and hit on everybody. Little Billie was quite a guy. He took over the story and forced me to shelve it.

  8. Speaking of humanoid frogs…

    I wish I had the kind of brain that could write top notch sci-fi. I really admire authors who can make that leap.

  9. A contest judge told me my plot was implausible–and it’s based on real stuff and real places. Obviously I haven’t stretched my imagination enough. The head of a monkey and the body of a dog. If he can talk that might sound more believable to her.

  10. The thing is, while my settings are often distant from where I am and my characters differ from who I am, I don’t feel like I’m ever traveling too far. When I write, I let my characters tell me what happened. To me, while I write, these characters are absolutely real and they’re imploring me to tell their story. So I do. Any editing I do or tweaking is done to ensure that I’m able to convey the greater meaning of what I feel they were trying to tell.

    I mean it may be crazy to sit down and so intently listen to the voices in one’s head, but they system works for me. It’s difficult to explain how. All I know is that it does.

  11. I am in the infancy stages (newborn, really) of writing. But it is something I have always wanted to do. My WIP has a young adult male as the main protagonist. Because I wanted readers to fall in love him I found myself subconsciously modeling him after my husband. (Awwww) But once I realized this point, it became easier to really dig into my protagonist’s head. It was merely questioning, “how would hubby react to this situation?” Of course he gets all the great points my husband has and then some because let’s face it, it’s fiction right? He also has a few of his faults. Because if we can’t be annoyed by him sometimes then how would he even be remotely real?

  12. I have several novels where the main protagonist is a woman. I have a novella where the protagonist is an ET. I have a YA novel where the protagonist is a cat-mathematician. All were a challenge. My muses keep challenging me that way, but their challenges keep me in a creative mood.
    r/Steve

Comments are closed.