Every writer has heard the advice to write what you know, and it is good advice to a point. It’s impossible to write about things you don’t understand. But the problem with this advice is that writers can learn. We can research and pick up the facts. We can break down a problem and find experts to explain the mechanics of how things work. Heck, we can even watch documentaries to see how things came about and how to videos to see it in action. What we cannot do is know how those situations feel without understanding the emotions associated with it. We can’t find the story behind things if we can’t empathize with it.
Readers respond to emotion, not facts. Few people connect with fact-filled textbooks (there are some odd academic types who do, but it is rare). There’s a reason for that. Facts engage the head; they don’t engage the heart.
If you want to snag your reader’s attention, you need to connect with her emotionally. This requires empathy or sympathy with your characters or story. The best stories are those that gets to the emotional core of the action and reflects that through dialogue, description and action.
This type of writing requires a writer to dig deep and feel the story. If you want your readers to cry or cringe, you must do those things while writing. Or at least feel the impact of the scene viscerally. You can fill in any knowledge gaps through research and interviews. But if you don’t show empathy for your characters and their situation, your story will fail. It’s kind of like watching a dancer who knows all the right moves but doesn’t show any emotional connection to the dance. It may look pretty on the surface, but it won’t make anyone care.
This is as true for nonfiction as it is for fiction. When I write for corporations, government agencies or nonprofit organizations, I always look for the heart of the story. No matter what the topic or project, there is always a way to base the story in emotion. It may be how a product or service helps people. It may be the journey to create the product. Or it may be the story of the people involved in a specific act or innovation. There has to be a reason why using the product or service matters. Why donating funds is the right thing to do. Why relying on a specific company matters.
People buy, donate, support causes and companies they believe in and care about. The best way to increase readership and connection is to find a way to share the facts in a way that engages the heart. Make people want to give, act, use, share, respond, and buy though the power of emotion and story.
Don’t write what you know. Write what you can learn. What you experience. What you fear. What you understand. Write what you can feel. That is the heart of telling a story.