Your Home Town

Most of us don't consider our home town as a place for inspiration or story ideas. Who would want to read about the boring places we live in? Well, someone lives in all those places written about in the most glamorous travel magazines, in newspapers and in-flight magazines that the locals might find dull but to you it's paradise.

The same goes for your home town. A lot of professional writers suggest to write what you know. This may seem rather limited but the advice is good. Who is a better expert on your home town than the local who's lived their most of their life. You. If you mention this fact to an editor they may be more willing to offer you a story about your local town. Of course it's not enough to just offer a story about your town, you need to find a good angle to capture the attention of your editor and your readers. Even a general story about the Himalayas or Bora Bora won't sell if it doesn't have an interesting slant.

'Write what you know' is something I have heard and read about a lot. But it's not something I wanted to believe or do. I wanted to write about interesting things, fun things, about stories that weren't necessary a part of my life just yet. But than I realised writing about what you know isn't just writing about your interests, experiences and location. It's also being able to do the right research to expand your knowledge base and write about anything and everything that is of interest to you.

I've been living in Warsaw for two years now. The city is a blend of contradictions. Combined with the new and old, it's come a long way but it still has a long way to go. There are many stories here. Travel stories. Human interest stories. And much more. I'm going to try to focus on my local area and see what happens. Well, I'm off to look for some interesting story slants.