Sophia Feyock
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read

“Write What You Know”,

by Sophia G. Feyock

I can’t wait for the moment I get to sit back and watch what I have created. I get to be in the one place of the theatre I have never been — the audience. I have never been an audience member, I have only ever looked on theatre from afar, lying in wait for the day I get to truly shine. And I’ve only ever imagined what it would be like, performing on stage.

I wonder what it would be like if people’s lives were like theatre? Most people wouldn’t have enough content to fill up a one-act slot. People obviously don’t follow basic normal story-structure, and normal people’s lives aren’t interesting enough to write an entire theatre piece about it. This is why I think the whole “write what you know….” idea is utterly, totally, completely ludicrous.

There is a saying that most writers follow, it’s on all the ‘inspirational mantra accounts’ and the ‘writer’s advice accounts’ on your Twitter time-lines. The saying goes like this: “Write what you know, for if it comes from the heart, it cannot fail.” There are many iterations of this quote, but this is the one I find most common. My point is, this saying doesn’t mean anything. All writers have different experiences. We can’t all write about being born into an extremely wealthy family, nor could all of us write about being from a poor neighborhood and not having enough food to eat. Nobody shares the same experiences.

“Write what you know….”. I don’t know anything! I grew up privileged, but also very guarded from everything that was outside my front door. Because of this, I lack social skills, but I have an ego that’s larger than life it’s-self. “Write what you know….”. I don’t know anything! I grew up in the Middle-Western part of The United States Of America. Two cornfields were at the entrance of my neighborhood. My life was/is uneventful, nothing happened there. I was/am very guarded and sheltered from anything that didn’t have to with homework, family, and absolutely nothing else. I would get reprimanded even if I were to open the front door without consulting anyone first; how does anyone expect me to fill enough pages to write a play based on “what I know”? Sure, I’m a mixed-race woman, but the most racially-motivated event that occurred to me was when my Mom got followed around the shopping mall a few times. I wasn’t even aware of anything wrong. Sure, I am partially-physically disabled and I got made fun of for it, but I’m not creative or inventive enough to write a two-and-a-half hour musical based on my experiences with racial profiling or the power of bullying.

Because of this uneventful life, I have this feeling of wanting more, needing more, desiring more, requiring more, deserving more out of life. This has caused me to adopt an egotistical outlook upon life. I have begun to think that I am better than others and having second-hand embarrassment for those who are struggling socially (this is only to mask the struggle I have myself with social skills or the lack thereof).

I have never been in the audience, watching as the character’s story arc crumbles below them, with the crowd members laughing either with them or at them. The actor knows it’s not real, but I feel every moment of the character’s pain because my life is crumbling as well, it’s just that nobody realizes it. I’m miserable and stuck because I can’t “write what I know”.

Sophia Feyock

Written by

lil German mixed girl. Screen/Teleplay Writer, Poet, Playwright, Librettist, Musician, and Actor. Twitter: @SophiaFeyock Instagram: @sophiagfeyock