We writers often get hung up on conflicting advice about what to write.

On the one hand, there’s “write what you know” and “write what only you could write.”

This is important, because your original voice is your best selling point.

On the other hand, there’s “write something commercial and high concept, with a strong logline.”

I don’t know about you, but personal stuff from my life doesn’t tend to result in that.

So what is one to do?

Think in terms of metaphors

Instead of literally writing something from your own experience, with all it’s “non-commercial, non-high concept” elements…

What about taking what’s deeply personal to you and then looking for a bigger premise in a commercial genre that explores that?

I was inspired in this regard by this YouTube video I recently discovered:

Would I call TAXI DRIVER commercial?

No. I would not. So let’s get that out of the way immediately. That’s not an easy kind of movie to write today and find funding and an audience for. So it’s a very different animal from Gravity.

But…

I think the video makes a very solid point that in both cases, the writer took something they were going through that had deep feeling and specificity for them, then created a situation/character to explore that which was completely outside their experience, yet could express and explore it.

In one case, it results in a very commercial type movie in a space/action genre. (I’d call Gravity a Dude with a Problem/Nature Problem in Save the Cat terms, alongside films like Apollo 13.)

In the other, you have more of a critic’s darling type film (Taxi Driver) that had a huge cultural impact and has stood the test of time. It’s not in a commercial genre, per se, although it’s got an intriguing thriller-y tone that ultimately climaxes in violence (spoiler alert!).

So it does “entertain” in its own way, and is obviously a huge success. Even if my headline of “commercial” doesn’t 100% apply to it.

Don’t do JUST personal or JUST commercial

When you just go for commercial, you can end up with something soulless that doesn’t seem to come from you as a writer, in a way that only you could’ve or would’ve written it.

I think it’s tougher to get positive attention from the industry that way. Because they’re looking for “voice.” They’re not in all honestly even looking for new writers in general, but the ones that can excite them usually have some very particular individuality to what they write and how they write it.

But at the same time, it also has to fit within a recognizable commercial genre. Action, horror, thriller, mystery, comedy… Or drama, but as I talk about in my book The Idea, it helps to add other elements to “drama” to elevate it as an entertainment vehicle, as Taxi Driver does.

So when you write something that is “what you know” and comes from you, but lacks that “commerciality,” it can also tend to struggle on the business side.

So the sweet spot is to try to do both.

Your life and emotions are a goldmine

Of course not all stories are a kind of therapeutic navel-gazing on the part of the writer.

But… the strongest ones do tend to come from a deep place within them. Something they’ve felt passionate about in some way. An experience, relationship, obsession, or base of feelings that could be translated into a character and story in a wildly different arena they’ve never experienced.

So I think it’s helpful to see your stories and characters as extensions of yourself. Looking to imbue them with you, in some way, so that they’re not just narrative pieces to move around but living, breathing representations of your inner life, albeit probably disguised by different specifics. 

Certainly it’s helpful to do this with your main character if you have just one. But I think having a personal hook that you can deeply relate to with each character, even villains, can be useful.

But the principals of writing and story are still worth studying

At the same time, very few writers can get away with writing something that ignores the foundations of drama and how to communicate with an audience, in favor of just personal expression.

Especially in screenwriting where it costs a lot to produce and market a project, there tends to be a strong need for elements within any script that could appeal to masses of people.

The tools that people like me teach and advocate for are all just methods for trying to achieve that. Which don’t tend to come naturally to most writers. (And didn’t to me.)

But the interesting thing is that the more specific, detailed and personal you are with your characters and emotions, the more universally relatable they often end up being. Because others can relate to what you have gone through. And your sincere exploration of that can win them over on a feeling level.

If at the same time you’re entertaining them through a premise and story that fits a genre and offers them a “ride” that’s enjoyable as escapism in some way, then you’re really doing something.