Write House, Wolverhampton –Writing ‘What You Know’ Versus Pushing the Boundaries

In this blog, Write House founder, Daniel Waldron, looks at arguments for sticking to writing ‘what you know’ and broadening the horizons.

Write House founder, Daniel Waldron, comments: “As a copywriter, I come across the phrase ‘write what you know’ on a regular basis. Whilst to some degree it’s a great piece of advice, it also raises the question of whether it limits creative capacity. As a writer, should I be afraid to expand my horizons because I’m not an expert on the subject? I’m not convinced.”

Perhaps the obvious point to raise here is that becoming an expert in a particular topic or topics means that a writer would have had to push boundaries in order to achieve expert knowledge in that particular subject. Therefore, it makes sense then that a writer should not be afraid to keep on expanding their knowledge across a diverse range of subjects, doesn't it?

Well, according to some experts, no. Psychology experts argue that certain people simply have a natural affinity with certain subjects and tests show that this is true of writers. With this evidence in mind, many copywriters are of the belief that writing about what you know is the best route to writing success.

There is an argument for this belief, after all, some of the best articles ever written are produced by writers writing about subjects that they are passionate about, have an in-depth knowledge of and are ready and willing to carry out extensive research in order to do their specialist topic justice.

However, sceptics of this way of writing argue that it restricts creativity and limits the scope of what many writers can write about. The obvious question is, how will a writer know what they are good at writing about unless they push the boundaries of their writing capabilities?

Daniel Waldron states: “Yes I do have certain specialisms in terms of writing capabilities; however, I would never have discovered them unless I stepped outside my comfort zone. I’m not sure about natural affinity as I am a strong advocate of ‘if you apply yourself to something there’s no limit to what you can achieve’.”

In some respects, whilst a writer, who has a vast knowledge of a particular subject, has an ‘advantage’ over a writer who doesn't there’s no reason why the ‘less knowledgeable’ writer cannot become a specialist in a particular subject.

However, critics here would argue that the acquisition of knowledge is not the issue, the issue is passion. Is the writer stirred by the subject? Does it interest them? Does it provoke a reaction to dig deeper?

Even if it does, the argument then comes down to this – does it matter? After all, a writer should be writing for the audience not personal preference. But, this in itself is also a stumbling block, as writers need to develop the skill of removing themselves from the article on a personal level as the written word often conveys what’s on the heart. Unfortunately, many writers have suffered as they’ve been unable to remove themselves from an article on a personal level, leading to an unwanted backlash from audiences.

Write House states: “Any piece of written work is always subjective, it’s open to interpretation and will be viewed from many different perspectives. Copywriting in itself is an art and the best advice for copywriters is to do what feels comfortable. If you’re seeing results from sticking to a particular subject continue to write in that manner. If you’re a writer who likes a challenge, expand your horizons.”

Founded in 2009, Write House emerged with assistance from the Princes' Trust. Business owner, Daniel Waldron, established the company with the vision of putting the 'personal service' back into the media industry.

Plagiarism: The Scourge of the Copywriter

As a copywriter nothing is more frustrating than producing a unique, well written article only to discover that it has been copied and pasted and placed on another website under a different author name.

Hours of research and writing are all undone by what can only be described as lazy writers and ‘freelance’ copywriters that take on bulk projects and are unable to hit specified deadlines, therefore resorting to ‘copy theft’ in order to meet the requirements of those they exploit.

A minority of individuals take the profession of ‘copywriter’ quite literally. Simply they copy the work of honest, legitimate writers and pass it off as their own. The problem has become so widespread that websites now exist that monitor the uniqueness of content in order to stamp 

out copy plagiarising.

The World Wide Web is a awash with content and, due to the substantial amount of written content that is uploaded on a daily basis, there is a high percentage chance that content will be copied and re-submitted under another author name.

Some would argue that there is no harm in such a practice, after all much of the news content on the web is often regurgitated and presented in a different way. Whilst this is a true statement, the negative impact that it has on writers that create the original content can be quite costly.

The largest culprit for copied content are freelance sites, whereby certain individuals, describing themselves as copywriters, take on small, medium or massive writing projects advertised by businesses all over the world, yet these so called ‘writers’ have absolutely no writing experience at all.

Such ‘writers’ resort to scouring the internet to trace content worthy of piecing together an article for unsuspecting clients that will meet approval and often that content is plagiarised from the work of other writers.

Whilst the content is ‘well written’, a closer look will reveal that because the content has often been sourced from several different sources, a tactic used to try and hide the fact that content is copied, it often does not flow, make sense or remain on topic.

Therefore, it could be argued that not only does plagiarism devalue the work of the original writer; it means that the recipients of copied content often end up with a disjointed article that is nonsensical, of poor quality and completely substandard for the intention it was purposed for.

Unfortunately, the problem continues to escalate, despite the introduction of websites put in place (e.g. Copyscape) to monitor and penalise those that simply plagiarise another writer’s work.

The continued problem has a derogatory impact on genuine copywriters looking to make an honest living. Trust in the freelance market has also suffered in terms of the quality that freelance service users can expect. However, the use of freelance writers has increased due to economic recession and businesses looking to cut back on costs.

However, although the use of freelancer writers has increased, this has also opened the door for rogue copywriters to exploit unsuspecting customers all in the interests of making quick money.

The key piece of advice that Write House can give is that ‘cheaper is not always the solution’. Common sense should prevail and those seeking the services of a copywriter should do their research, check credentials and references and finally, if you’re serious about using the services of a top copywriter or copywriting service you have to be prepared to pay the going rate.

In this instance, the term ‘you get what you pay for’ could not be more accurate.

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