“Write what you know” is an old and tattered piece of advice that has fallen out of favor in recent years—and for good reason (so limiting! What about imagination? What about following your curiosity toward what you want to discover?).

But I’m not lining up to beat this dead horse, which already looks like carpaccio. I’m here to share an interesting twist on this old piece of advice. It comes from The Poet’s Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux.

“Write what you know” is still an excellent place to begin. Start with that, and let yourself move out from what you know into the larger questions.”

p. 24

Start with what you know. Simple, powerful, and not limiting. This idea connects with their other thoughts on beginnings, offered earlier in the book.

Few of us begin to write a poem about “death” or “desire.” In fact, most of us begin by either looking outward: that blue bowl, those shoes, those three white clouds. Or inward: I remember, I imagine, I wish, I wonder, I want.

p.21

This is a good reminder that “what you know” might be something simple and concrete in view, but it also might be your own mind, your own heart. But just because you start in a familiar place doesn’t mean you have to stay there. Whether you’re writing poetry or fiction or nonfiction or whatever, you can sail outward (or deeper inward) to discover new territory.