The old adage "Write what you know" has some truth to it, but some people take it far too literally. If people only wrote about what they knew at the time there would be no science fiction, no fantasy, no speculation toward the future, no dreaming ... all that would be left would be dry first-person experiences.

I prefer to take the phrase a little differently: Write what you Know. Know, as in Truth, as in the greater Truths that bind us all together. Such a definition doesn't rely on knowledge of particular details. It's more an awareness of the human condition and universal laws than whether you actually know what it feels like to be shot.  -- Read more