Blood will Flow

I can see what they're saying but if we only write what we know - O.o Nothing would ever get written! Also, come on, just because we don't have life experience of an event or a lifestyle, that doesn't preclude us from empathy. I don't get pissy when someone writes about an abusive domestic relationship and has never even sniffed one, let alone witnessed it or whatever. It's an extreme example but it's still a valid one. Through writing we learn, we research, we *try* and understand.

As a writer/author you constantly second guess yourself as it is; am I making this too generalized, am I offending someone, is this too much??? I think 'write what you know, and ONLY what you know' is the worst advice ever.

And can we just for a moment point out that it's not just minorities that get broadly generalized in fiction by people who haven't got a clue - white middle class and able bodied people almost seem to be the frowned upon set now. If you don't happen to have something that makes you different, then how dare you have an idea or opinion (sorry, harsh, but true).