About Pissed Experts

Post 1796:

I had a friend who raced cars. I remember watching a racing movie with him, the one time. It totally sucked because he couldn’t stand it. He knew it was a movie and that they had to take dramatic license, but he hated the lack of attention to detail and realism that could’ve gone into it. His status as an expert ruined the fun. And mine.

I remember getting a little freaked out about this, because I write stuff all time and I’m not an expert at anything. I know a lot about some things and not so much about others, like everyone else. So if only write about my expertise, blank pages.

That leaves two options. Don't do fiction, or pretend. You get the story on the page, then go back and do a little research to fill in the details. It sounds like a bullshit workaround, but this is make-believe. Duh.

Be careful on the rewrites, though. If I’m writing a car racing story and I get too far into nitty gritty details of oil viscosities and gear timing and how to properly draft behind a lead car, the person reading the story is going to get bored. Because they’re not an expert, either. Do your best to give it something resembling realism and focus on the drama. This will make normal people happy.

The only people pissed off will be the experts. Don’t worry. They’re usually pissed off anyway. Cheers and see you after.