Why "Write About What You Know" Can Be Bad Advice For Poets

Writing about what you know - that basic advice all novice writers are given - can actually lead you into problems if you stick too closely to the truth. Particularly when it comes to poetry, a precise and concise form where every word and every sound should be carefully chosen to contribute to the overall effect.

It's often efective to use personal experience as a jumping off point for your writing. But once you've decided to turn the reality into poetry, it's important to let go and shake off your personal attachment to it. If you don't, you are likely to end up including irrelevant details that have no place in a poem and have no general appeal.

Suppose you decide to write a poem based on the first time you met your wife. It's a topic that's likely to have universal appeal as most people have had a similar experience.

As you start to plan, you remember you've been advised to include concrete details to give your poem more impact, so you try to recall exactly how it happened:

It was April. A wet Tuesday afternoon about four o'clock. She was wearing a purple dress and caught her heel as she stepped off the number sixteen bus at the corner of Green Lane and Seagull Grove...

How many of these facts should you include in the final version of the poem? Think about what each idea can contribute in sounds, metre and imagery.

Does it matter that it was a Tuesday, for example? A "wet Wednesday" is a lot more alliterative. (Unless it was a "Tuesday, in torrential rain...", of course!) Is the time important? Maybe "Monday morning", or "Thursday at three" would work better.

Remember how The Crystals' song "Da Doo Ron Ron" begins "I met him on a Monday"? In fact Thursday, Friday or Sunday would all have worked just has well metrically and are far more likely days for such meetings to happen. But the sounds wouldn't be so tight: notice how the whole line is tied together by the "m" sounds in "met", "him" and "Monday".

Bear in mind, though, that "it sounds good" isn't enough to justify the inclusion of a fact or image in the finished poem. Are either day or time actually of any relevance to what you're writing?

"Seagull Grove" is a lovely street name - perhaps it should have a poem of its own - but unless there are any other birds or wildlife in the account, or unless you're going to link it in by describing the dress flaring out like wings as she tripped, it's more likely to distract attention than add anything. And as for the dress itself, remember that you're never going to find a rhyme for purple.

Of course it's useful to look at the real details of the occasion, but you should be willing to pick and choose which facts and images you include, and to manipulate them to suit your final poem. Keep in mind that you are writing a poem, not a newspaper report.

One last piece of advice: if your wife is going to be offended if you change the details to produce a better poem, maybe you should limit your readership to those with a personal interest - your writing isn't likely to appeal to a universal audience.