I wonder if you relate to one of the March sisters in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women? Not surprisingly, I’ve always felt that Jo March is a real kindred spirit. She is, after all, a writer + adventurer! My heart always breaks for Jo when Amy “gets even” by burning her hand-written manuscript in the cooker… and again when Professor Bhaer tells her he doesn’t care for her stories. His advice to Jo is that she ‘WRITE WHAT SHE KNOWS.’
But I have to admit (sorry, Jo!) that Professor Bhaer does have a little bit of a point.
I think it’s obvious by now: I LOVE the adventure of setting out to write a new story. Researching, gathering up all kinds of interesting little tidbits like a detective, is, in my opinion, one of the BEST parts of writing. The QUEST! Setting out into the unknown armed only with my five senses and a journal, never knowing what I’ll come back with… (*Ok, I admit. I’m a nerd. But seriously, research is epic!)
But sometimes a story needs more than exciting tidbits or exotic settings. Sometimes the only way to give a story a heartbeat that will resonate with the reader’s own is to take Professor Bhaer’s advice: write about what you already know. Maybe that’s your family life, your childhood memories, or even your past heartbreaks.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.. especially as this week I have officially begun my Research Quest for the 2nd book in the Katie Watson Mysteries in Time (*if you haven’t yet read Book 1, get the scoop here!). And *Spoiler alert!* this time, Katie’s adventures will take her back in time to the days of Indians and plantation owners in the deep South of the United States of America.
Here’s a funny fact: I have NEVER before written a book set in America, the country where I was born, grew up and lived until I was 21 years old!
I suppose, like Jo March, my imagination tends to wander to strange and far-off places first, before exploring familiar territory. It’s so easy to take the familiar for granted though, isn’t it? To forget how much Wonder there is in our everyday lives, right before our eyes?
As I’ve dug deeper and deeper into this story, I can’t tell you how exciting it’s been to re-explore my old stomping grounds in the good ol’ Appalachian hills and forests. I have such rich experience I have to draw from — I know those woods and what kind of creatures call them home. I know the earth is made of red clay. I know the smell of Georgia Pine needles on a dewy morning. I know the suffocating stickiness of the midday sun in August as well as the deliciousness of a shady magnolia tree — It turns out I have a lot of “what I know” to work with!
But I’m also thrilled to bits to learn about what I don’t yet know… but should! I’ve grown up knowing I have Cherokee ancestors, but I know nothing about my own great, great, great Cherokee grandmother. I have stories in my own past just waiting to be dug up, brushed off and shared with the world!
One thing is certain. Writing this book — Katie Watson and the …(who knows?) — will be an extraordinary adventure! I can’t wait to re-explore my own homeland and to learn more about my own heritage.
Most of all, I cannot wait to share my discoveries with you!
Mez “Appalachian Cherokee” Blume
**What about you? How about taking the challenge to write about what you know. It doesn’t have to be a book. Maybe just a short story, poem, or even a paragraph! Why not give it a try — write about a memory, place or person you know well. It might remind you just how special ‘what you know’ is!
