Write What You Know. Imagine What You Do Not.

Write What You Know. Imagine What You Do Not.

Reliance upon experience for knowledge may, to an extent, be a measure of reducing uncertainties, but not a universally proven formula to have the best knowledge guaranteed.

Here is an interesting example from the literature world. Afterall, when we talk of human capabilities, limiting oneself to just workplace behaviours could be a misguided approach.

Jane Austen’s present-day popularity derives chiefly from the fact her heroines, although two centuries old, act as romantic beacons for the modern age. With a universal message of marrying for love rather than money, they provide examples, albeit fictional, of women choosing husbands due to strings of the heart and not of the purse.

If the old adage ‘write what you know’ that has long been applied to young writers, is applied to Austen’s writing, then she should have had one of the happiest marriages in the history of matrimony. But here lies the paradox. One of the supreme purveyors of romantic love in English literature, and the creator of numerous blissful couplings in print, never took her own trip down the aisle.

The human mind is creative and imaginative beyond the need to depend on first-hand experience. When we desire to generate ideas out of the box, often we should be ready to trust people who never entered the box.

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