All over the writing world, aspiring authors hear “write what you know! Write what you know!”  I consistently poo-pooed this advice.  After all, if writers could only write about what they experienced, then we should all look askance at authors like Stephen King or Thomas Harris (The Silence of the Lambs).

Okay, confession time:  I know that the adage doesn’t really mean that only astronauts can write about astronauts.  After all, I’m a former lawyer turned writer and suburban mom.  Yet I’ve written about superheroes (I’m not one; wish I was), talking ferrets (I did own a ferret; he didn’t talk), magical cats (I’m a cat person; as far as I know none of the boy cats are in love with me, and certainly none have ever turned human), detectives (I’m not one, I don’t even play one on tv), spies (I’m not allowed to say whether I am or not.  Seriously), and on and on.

You get the drift.  What the adage really means is that you want the story—particularly the emotional depth and journey of the characters—to be real.  You want to convey love or loss or the fear of embarking on something new and different in a way that sucks readers in and makes them experience it, too.

In other words, I could write an astronaut book even though I’m not an astronaut.

But to my recollection, I never have.  Instead … well, recently I’m writing about lawyer stuff.  And mommy stuff.

The series I write as J.K. Beck is set in and around a paranormal judicial system, and many of the locations and some of the scenarios stemmed from my fifteen years practicing law.  As far as I know, though, I never represented a vampire or went up against a werewolf.  But it was LA … so you never know.  (I’m excited that the fifth book in the Shadow Keepers series, WHEN PASSION LIES just hit shelves!)

So. Lawyer(ish) books.  Check.  Hmm. Maybe I did write a little bit about what I know.  But it’s not like I’m writing about my life now.  I mean, I’m not writing in suburbia about a mom with two kids who schleps them around in a minivan and can’t keep a house clean to save her life, because—oh.  Wait.  Maybe I am.

Ahem.  My demon hunting soccer mom series (written as Julie Kenner) is about a mom (Kate) who has two kids, drives a minivan, lives in the suburbs, and just happens to fight demons.

Granted, the only demons I ever fight are my own personal demons, but still…

Well, how about that?  I guess I do write what I know after all…

(Book 6 of the demon hunting soccer mom series, PAX DEMONICA, will be out later this month in e-format, but a Kate short story is available now, THE DEMON YOU KNOW.)

About Julie Kenner

USA Today bestselling author Julie Kenner (aka J.K. Beck) hates doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms and drinks far too much coffee.  She lives in Central Texas with her husband, two daughters (8 and 10) and two strange cats who do not, as far as she knows, have any magical or shapeshifting abililites.

She’s recently started hanging out far too much on Twitter and Facebook and would love for you to like and follow her there.  You can find Julie/J.K. on the web at:

 http://www.juliekenner.com (or http://www.jkbeck.com)

http://www.facebook.com/juliekennerbooks

http://www.facebook.com/jkbeckbooks

http://www.pinterest.com/juliekenner