A short rant about Writing

Whoever still believes in the writing fallacy that you can only write about what you've experienced, please think before making such a stupid assertion. Exhibit A: What is to be said about the many fantasic period piece novels/films and the like? Exhibit B: What is to be said about fantasy literature or film? Exhibit C: What is to be said of the many academic papers and extensive academic research and study carried out by academics, which results in papers, when they often have never experienced poverty (in the case of sociological or economic academic works)?

I state this frustration because I was told by some dummies the other day that I could not write about a certain topic that I had raised some questions about for my book research since I had not experienced it personally. In other words, they had the monopoly on the matter and topic at hand. It's about as stupid as suggesting that I cannot state an opinion about suicide as I have not experienced. Perhaps yes, there are certain situations where experience is required to get a grasp of it, but as a generalization, the statement that you cannot write about what you have not experienced is for half-wits. It is called research and it is a large part of any writing process. Without it, assumptions are merely made endlessly. This rant hasn't made me feel any better by getting this off my chest. GRR!

"Everyone knows how to write your story, but few, if any, know how to write their own." - Anonymous