/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19862973]

Do you think one can successfully write about something they've never experienced firsthand themselves? On the one hand we can think of good sci-fi books that obviously cannot be experienced, but on the other I can't picture writing something that accurately depicts what it's like being in a war without having been in one yourself. What do you think?

[Anonymous No.19862982]

Here's a quote by William Faulkner: A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others.

[Anonymous No.19863138]

I agree. I ruminated and worked out that the main barrier to my writing was a lack of experience. (Internet knowledge is nice but it's an extracted kind of living. The orange juice but not the fibrous orange.) Looking forward to 5, 10 years from now when I have more experiences to work from.

[Anonymous No.19863148]

>>19862982
wouldnt experience and observation be the same thing? maybe im being pedantic

[Anonymous No.19863158]

>>19862973
Maybe in select circumstances. Otherwise no. I ruminated and worked out that the main barrier to my writing was a lack of experience. (Internet knowledge is nice but it's an extracted kind of living. The orange juice but not the fibrous orange.) Looking forward to 5, 10 years from now when I have more experiences to work from.

[Anonymous No.19863361]

>>19863148
Observation is more about other people's experiences, from a third party perspective.

[Anonymous No.19863668]

>>19862973
Yes it can be done

[Anonymous No.19863685]

>>19862973
>on the other I can't picture writing something that accurately depicts what it's like being in a war without having been in one yourself.
The Red Badge of Courage

[Anonymous No.19863703]

>>19862973
I hate how this picture gets co-opted as an example of extreme PTSD or trauma or whatever. The dude was caught off-guard by flash photography and made a dumb face. Maybe he has trauma and PTSD, but this picture just shows a tired dude.

Same with the WWI British soldier with a creepy smile.

[Anonymous No.19863736]

>>19862973
Not really I don't think. Even if traumatic events were summarized as themes in human experience, I don't believe a neurotypical well-off person can write about it. Especially given they've never lived thru it, they're bound to make stupid assumptions or trivialize parts of it

[N E M O . !!GgBWHLRiayD No.19863974]

>>19862973

In any ambit, experiential amplitude is necessary to lead by example; generally, intuitive individuals require less experience than nonintuitive ones in order to achieve equal, or even better, results, since they can more easily precognize, and prognose, the reality of things.

Through experiential transversion, one texturally recontects/resynthesizes/recreates the essence of something that is external to one into one's comprehension/imperience, adding its form to one's mindspace —to one's "belt"; under one's "petal"—; this is why sapient intuitive persons, being especially imperienced, and moving in concord with their respective talent/genius, are more prudently elective, and prophylactically selective, than others, regarding which experiences to have, and therefore generally emerge out of them intact, and with, at least, twice as much profit.

Disastrous existence entails hazardous persistence; compare the pressure, and prepare the measure.

[Anonymous No.19864042]

>>19862973
The best sci fi and fantasy books were written by someone who had more than a passing knowledge of the things they were writing about, and often they were experts in what they wanted to convey. Tolkien was first and foremost a linguist before he was a writer of fiction, Peake was an accomplished artist before he became an author, Asimov had an immense knowledge of the latest scientific advancements and research of his time when writing his stories, the list goes on. Sure, you don't exactly need the kind of knowledge and experience these guys did to write, but it certainly seems to be a key part of what made their work so good.

[Anonymous No.19864056]

>>19863703
Were you there? Did you know that guy personally?

[Anonymous No.19864193]

>>19862973
>Do you think one can successfully write about something they've never experienced firsthand themselves?
I suspect so. The amount of literary fakes and historical hoaxers in the world is extremely long. That at the very least means it's possible to be convincing.
However "convincing" can be very different from "accurate" so how do you define "successfully"?
The other thing is, was it Terrance who said "Nothing human is alien to me", with sufficient research perhaps using techniques like Sense Memory you might be able to accurately emulate a war zone scene. Everyone knows what grief and fear and pain are like. You need to fit those in the correct context.

[Anonymous No.19864986]

>>19864056
do you? what a dumb response, never reply to me ever again

[Anonymous No.19865160]

>>19863703
>United States Marine Corps Private Theodore James Miller (February 12, 1925 - March 24, 1944) of Hennepin County, Minnesota assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Marine Independent Regiment returns to Coast Guard-manned attack transport USS Arthur Middleton (APA-25) at 1400 Hours after two days of combat on Engebi. Engebi was the first of the Eniwetok Atoll to be invaded by American forces. In Operation "Fragile" the 1st and 2nd Battalions landed on February 18, 1944, with 3rd Battalion in reserve. In the attack on Engebi American losses were 78 killed, 166 wounded, and 7 missing, totaling 251 casualties. All of Engebi's defenders were killed, except for nineteen prisoners taken. Miller himself was killed in action during the invasion of Ebon Atoll a month later. 25 Japanese, including six civilians (two women and two children among them), put up a 20-minute fire-fight that left Miller and another Marine dead and eight others wounded.

[Anonymous No.19865166]

>>19864986
>>19865160
Yeah, just caught off guard by a camera flash bro, dumb fuck