Writing What You Know

I am not a writer by profession. My forays into writing fiction have ending up sinking into a mire of detail. On the other hand I've had alot of fun tellling stories (mostly true) about people and places I've seen and known. To communicate with a wider audience than found around the kitchen table I've written some of them down in letters or journal entries or Friday Challenge entries.

Writing what I know is the only way I know how to write. I enjoy reading a wide variety of fiction. Louis L'Amour is one of my favorite authors. I will agree that his plots are not the most original, but what a gold mine of information. My paternal grandfather was born in 1892. He left school at the age of 11 and went to work. He herded sheep, farmed, mined and eventually put together his own outfit. I grew up living next door. From an early age I remember sitting in the truck with my grandfather waiting for my father to finish what he was doing. To pass the time my grandfather told stories about his younger years. He told about his parents, siblings. grandparents, and assorted other relatives living and dead. When I started reading Louis L' Amour I recognized the characters. I think the reason Louis L' Amour was so successful was that he wrote what he knew. He had listened to the old-timers tell their stories, he had lived the life therefore his stories had a ring of authenticity.

We are all story tellers in one way or another. Story telling is how information has been passsed between humans for millenia. Some of us are good enough to get paid for it when we write it down.