It’s a common piece of advice for authors: “write what you know.”
While it could be taken to mean that you should draw on inspiration from your own life — fictionalizing experiences you’ve had, basing characters on people you know, or setting your stories in places you’re familiar with — the deeper meaning lies in expressing your personal emotional truths.
Write from the heart.
When we write from our emotional truths, we're not just telling stories; we're sharing bits of ourselves. It's about expressing what really moves us, what scares us, what's changed us deep down.
When you’re honest like this, readers can feel it. They connect with what you’re saying because it's something they've felt too. It's like you’re saying, "Hey, I've been there too” — and that connection is what makes truly powerful writing that will resonate with your readers.
In today’s interview, author Cindy R. X. He talks about what it’s like to go on submission, why she doesn’t believe in writing every day, and what it really means to write what you know.
OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…
Cindy R. X. He
Author
Cindy’s debut novel, Perfect Little Monsters, a YA thriller, releases May 7, 2024 and is available for preorder now!
What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?
To write what you know. Not superficial stuff, like jobs, or things you've seen or done (Tolkien never met an elf or a dragon, and thriller writers never actually murdered anyone). What it means is to write the emotional truths that you know. Things that move you greatly, your greatest fears, things that changed you forever, etc. Readers will sense you're writing the truth as you know it, and connect with that. In my debut book, Perfect Little Monsters, I explore the impact of bullying and cruelty, and its devastating, long-lasting effects on its victims, from my own personal experience. And because it’s a thriller, it’s a dark tale of what happens when a victim of bullying reaches her breaking point and, when her suicide attempt is nonfatal, makes a frightening decision.
What is one thing you wish you had known about the publishing process before going through it yourself?
How excruciating going on submission is. Everyone talks about how hard querying is, but hardly anyone ever talks (at least, publicly) about how much worse the next step after that is. It's like the next circle of hell; honestly, for me, querying pales in comparison. What I did was just to keep working on the next book. That, and lots of ice cream, and venting sessions with other writers!
What's one writing "rule" or commonly followed piece of advice that you decidedly break?
To write every day. I don't write on weekends as that's family time. Writing is work, and I think that like all work, we all need a regular break from it so it doesn't become too overwhelming. Also, I need time off of about a month in between books to rest and refill the creative well. I definitely disagree with the "rule" that one has to write every day to be a real writer!
How do you personally get over writer's block?
If I get blocked, it usually means that something isn't working in that scene, or the previous scene. It means I've gone down the wrong path. I evaluate what I've written before and try and identify what's not working. Sometimes that means deleting entire pages, or chapters, and trying again! But that usually works for me to overcome any creative blocks. That also means I usually edit as I draft!
Are you a plotter or a pantser? What's your personal drafting process like?
I'm somewhere in between. I can't start writing until I've worked out the major plot points, as in the beginning, the major revelations, the twist. But I can't plot out the novel either, because that doesn't work for me. I have to discover most of it as I write it; feel out what should happen, what is right for the scene. And I never know how a book ends until I almost finish drafting it.
While I've never been called a snowflake, I have been called a flake. But all kidding aside. First I just want to say I just love watching your videos. But I like your take a writing about what you know. I've never looked at it that way before. But that might be because I'm old and set in my ways. So when you say write about what you know, in the emotional way, it's almost as if something inside my head went "click." I know emotion. Maybe too much. I know trauma. I always say to myself: "Write what interests you." I have a lot of interests. My stories mirror that. But great interview all around.
Great interview! Thank you, Cindy R. X. He for sharing your philosophy and the writing style that works for you. I edit as I write, too, and I was beginning to think I was alone in this style. I also don't like to think of myself as a 'snowflake,' which is the another description of a writing style.