If experience was required in order to write convincing fiction,
almost all the crime fiction books we'd read would have to be written
by criminals.
Experience can get in the way of the writing. A variation of this can
be seen when writers include self-indulgent content in a book because
in their research they learned something that they found particularly
interesting and they had to use it, even if it didn't contribute
effectively to the story being told.
Sandra
On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 10:41 AM, Allan Guthrie
<allan@allanguthrie.co.uk> wrote:
> While I might agree that there are occasions where Goodis could have
> researched better (it's not a big bugbear of mine, though -- I don't expect
> or want realism from Goodis), I disagree with the implication that you need
> to have experienced what you write about to be convincing. Authenticity, for
> fiction, is in the details, and not in who experienced them.
>
> Al
>
-- THE FRAILTY OF FLESH Nov 08 Dorchester http://www.sandraruttan.com/
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