Write What You Don't Know.

A rant.

Have you ever heard that saying "Write what you know."?
Surely you've heard somebody say that to you at some point in your life.
Everyone says it so obviously that's what you should do right? Write what you know. BULLSHIT!
I encourage you to do the exact opposite!
Write about things you know nothing about!
Never done drugs? Your main character is a drug addict.
Never been outside of your country? Your character is from anywhere you don't live.
Never gambled? Your character's favorite pastime is gambling.

So why the hell should your write what you don't know.
Well have you ever thought about when people tell you to write what you know? Did you ever wonder why they gave you that advice?
Because writing what you know is f*****g easy that's why.
I've mostly heard this in school settings when they want you to write some stupid paper, but I've heard it outside of school as well.

Anyway, as a writer you should write what you don't know because that's a challenge, it forces you to grow as a writer, try something new, step out of your comfort zone.
I'm not saying to never write what you do know, I'm just saying what you don't know should be written about too.

If you're writing, let's say the novel you plan on making your living on then you should probably do at least some research on these things you don't know (assuming they exist) but even still you're writing something you've had no first hand experience with.

So my point is write what you know little to nothing about as an exercise.

I hope you enjoyed this little rant.

Author's Note

Do you agree? Disagree? Other?