How To Outgrow 'Write What You Know'

How To Outgrow 'Write What You Know'

Every writer has heard it time and again, and it's not without merit: "Write what you know."

When I began freelancing, I was just out of college, so what did I write about? College. I wrote profiles of collegiate entrepreneurs, I wrote editorials about college life... and after a while, I really wanted to move on and write about other things. But I didn't feel qualified.

Luckily, I didn't let that hold me back for too long.

"Write what you know" is a very good starting point. But that's all it is. It's a place for you to go to get your feet wet, and a place to come back to when the tide gets too high. But it's not a place to stay for very long.

A better piece of advice, in my opinion, is "Write what you WANT to know." One of the great perks of being a freelance writer is that you get paid to learn about things. So... what do you want to learn about?

If I had completely disregarded "Write what you know" and simply opened a page of the Writers Market at random, figuring I'd send a query to whichever market my finger happened to touch, my career would be very different today. I might have ended up writing about finances, miniature horses, and aerobics. And you know what? I would have hated it.

I have no experience with any of the above topics, and there's a good reason for that: I never really WANTED to have experience with them. Since I have no real passion for any of the topics, if I had to write articles about them, it would feel like work.

But did you ever stop to think about the things you always wanted to know, but never found out? Or all the interesting people you wanted to meet? Or the problems you've encountered that you wanted solved? Now those are article topics.

Try this exercise. Fill in the blanks with your answers.

1. If time and money weren't factors, I'd love to take a course in ___________________.
2. I've always wanted to ask (person you know)______________________ about _________________________.
3. I've always wanted to know how __________________________ works.
4. My life would improve if I could only ______________________________.
5. When I have a sleepless night, it's usually because I'm worried about ____________________.
6. The worst injustice I can think of is ______________________________.
7. When I was a kid, I was really passionate about _________________________.
8. I have always been embarrassed to admit that ________________________really interests me.
9. In my life, I have overcome ___________________________________________.
10. If I could volunteer for just one cause, it would be __________________________.
11. I wish I were better at ___________________________________.
12. I have always wondered why _________________________________________.

You may have lots of answers for each statement. That's great! Each answer is a possible article topic. Most of them won't be specific enough (or perhaps too specific) for an article, but they should give you lots of new starting points from which to brainstorm angles.

Think of freelance writing as your own opportunity to learn about all the things you ever wanted to know, and don't worry if you're not yet an "expert" in any of these areas! Among my favorite writing assignments have been topics in which I had no previous expertise:

-An article about a woman who started her own greeting card business for Woman's Own. Of course, I've never started my own greeting card business