Write what you know.

[dameboudicca]

You know, that advise you get all the time. It has some truth to it (especially if not taken to literally).

But what do you do if you suffer from prosopagnosia (facial blindness), when you couldn't describe the face of someone you knew if your life depended on it even? If you are incapable of reading facial expressions (at least, if they are not really exaggerated). Does that mean you have to write stories about faceless beings who never shows the slightest hint of an expression on their faces? It would be all right if your character had the same condition, but if you don't want that...?

This is not just a question out of idle curiosity, I have these problems, and so far I have avoided it by using generic descriptions (put together from stuff I've read), but it feels a bit like cheating (no, no, not word-by-word, of course not - but still!) - and I'm terrified someone will, eventually, see through it. After all, I know it's fake!

Or, do I have no choice but to continue as I do now?

[somewhat cross-posted]

Comments

[bliumchik]

I think people have made excellent points, and it very much depends on what you're comfortable. I lean towards the ones that say you should just write about the things YOU notice that tell you about emotions and leave out the face, but want to add that you don't have to describe the person being viewed when you can just describe the viewer's reaction. Let your POV character notice that someone is angry without describing how s/he can tell.

If you use any one of these suggestions ALL THE TIME you're going to end up with stilted writing, so try mixing them up a bit, then get someone to read over them and tell you what works and what doesn't. Try it out on a whole bunch of unrelated scenes so it doesn't matter if you get it wrong. Eventually you'll figure out what combination works best for you.

[dameboudicca]

Yes, I think you are quite right - using what you DO understand is a good thing, and trying different methods is also good. Doing the same thing over and over again, whatever it is about, is always a bad thing in writing...