Write What You Know or Write What You Feel?

Write What You Know or Write What You Feel?

I am not a writer by trade, but I am a storyteller.

When watching my young nephews, I would often tell them stories about the things that scared them. Monsters in the closet, shadows on the wall—whatever haunted their little minds. Somehow, the stories always calmed them enough to fall asleep.

My background is in photojournalism. Sometimes, if the reporter didn’t show up, I had to write the story myself. Back then, it was simple: just the facts. No emotion. No interpretation. Just document and move on.

That all changed one day. A tornado had ripped through my hometown, devastating everything in its path. I was one of the first on the scene, with my SLR Minolta X-700 in hand, my instinct took over. I followed the trail of destruction, photographing what I saw—entire neighborhoods flattened, people wandering through the ruins of their lives.

Then I turned a corner and found myself in the middle of what used to be someone’s home. The air was thick with dust and disbelief. An elderly man was digging through debris, trying to free his wife from the wreckage. She was crying. I heard a dog barking in the distance. The man kept digging, desperate, and determined. Both of them stared at me—silent, exhausted, and dazed.

My editor’s voice echoed in my head: “Shoot what you see!” But I couldn’t.

Instead, I looked up at the black summer sky—dark as the ones near the steel mills I was familiar with. I moved the hair from my eyes, lowered my camera, and went to help. I grabbed the woman’s hand and assisted her to a place to rest, then used my hands to help the man dig through what remained. He nodded. That was enough.

My editor wasn’t thrilled with me. I understood her point—but to this day, forty years later, I don’t regret the choice I made. Helping came before headlines.

I’ve always written what I felt. That’s just how I’m wired.

I immerse myself in the stories I create, stepping inside the emotions of the people I imagine and letting their feelings guide my words. That instinct started early—thanks to my seventh-grade Creative Writing teacher. Once in class, she played the music of The Nutcracker, told me to close my eyes, and just feel it. Then she said, “Now, write.”

That’s still what I do today.

In the debate between writing what you know and writing what you feel, I’ve chosen feeling—every time. Because when words come from the heart, they find their way into someone else’s.

And that, to me, is the truest kind of story.

Please don’t forget to preorder my debut novel, The Unseen Sacrifice on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJ7XPSSL

The hardcover version will be released on October 21 this year.

All My Best,

Dani