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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39447
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

It depends a lot what you are trying to achieve.

Some things are very specific and you are going to need very specific research to convey them properly. Take drugs for example, different drugs have different effects and for obvious reasons writing about the inner experience of taking them is not going to be an easy task without a lot of detailed and specialist knowledge.

Having said that it may be a lot more accessible to write by shifting your perspective a bit. You can start with your own perspective and look at your own attitude to drugs. Would you ever use any drugs ? If so under what circumstances and if not why not ? Can you imagine any circumstances in which you might be tempted ? If not what do you think makes other people use them ?

A big part of the value writing is to give the reader a new perspective and allow them to visualise themselves in a situation they might not normally experience. A huge part of this is understanding motivation. As writer this involves putting yourself in somebody else' shoes.

So certainly in terms of exercises to challenge yourself it make sense to deal with subjects which don't require a vast amount of technical research but force you to see the world from a different perspective.

Conversely one of the best ways to convey this is to tap into common experience. There are certain things which most human beings can relate to on one level or another and again this comes down to motivation. Writing, even great writing tends not to do well at describing entirely novel or purely sensory experiences, you need to find ways to tap into common experiences which most people can relate to.

For example if somebody asks you what it it is like being a young creative writing student how do you even begin to answer that ? It is something that you have direct experience of but isn't a very meaningful question as there is no basis for comparison. For you it is normal. You can't really describe what it feels like to be you until you establish some common ground.

This is a pretty fundamental feature of language. Words are essentially symbols which have an agreed meaning and written and spoken art forms tend to be very much centred on commonalities and differences of experience.

One interesting exercise might be to write from the preservative of someone you know. SO you have a reasonable amount of factual information about the but need to see that from a different perspective to your own. Maybe try a few different people.

At the most basic level maybe a friend or classmate, perhaps describe some reasonably notable day or incident from their perspective, perhaps as a fictionalised diary for a day. Even better pick someone you don't always get on well with perhaps someone you had an argument with. Try describing that argument with them as the 'hero'. If you can do that well you are well on the way.

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