Thread: Elsewhere on this site, a writer was asked for general advice about writing…

Their reply was “Write what you love best.”

I find this puzzling. I asked another person, who said much the same thing as I did, only less politely.

So what do you make of it? Was there a gem hidden in those words or was it just an example of an empty vessel?

People tell me to write the book I want to read, that's how I've always applied that "Write what you love best" thing.
I hadn't really worked out if I was doing that. Sometimes I like to read what I couldn't write. (Anything serious.)

But I guess, my WIP is a book that would really 'speak' to me if I found it, and I'd think it was funny and clever.

It means write what you enjoy reading, as Fox said. Pretty simple.

"If I found my WIP"

Wtf?

Oh stop being a pain. If I found the finished product of that book on a shelf, but it'd been written by someone else.

"What you love best" could be fishing or hat-blocking or bungee-jumping; this is why to me it's a meaningless remark.

I had a professor who said it simple, "write what you care about."

But okay, let’s for a moment assume that I accept the hidden meaning - write what you love reading.

I love reading about England and France.

But I know f*ck-all about England and France; how then do I apply the other rule, the one that says “Write what you know?”

you could write about the god forsaken bull ant infested dust bowl that you live, perhaps?

but who would want to read it?

:p

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They're not rules, NTO, they're suggestions.

Originally Posted by SevenWritez

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Wow. That ocean sure shrank quickly. And I like that bit about re-shaping it.

Moi and moi sofisticated Fraaanch fraaands. We laaake to read of zis plaaace wiz de bowl de dust.

It's laaake Austria sans the oh-la-la nest pas?

(pats ox on tete).

They have dust bowls in Austria?

Do we belive Swift was writing about what he knew best when he wrote Gulliver? Should I confine my writing to my best beloved wife and children? OK we are not married, but you get the point "Was there a gem hidden in those words or was it just an example of an empty vessel?" No and yes.