--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Writers do not write what they know. They…" description: "\"Writers do not write what they know. They write what they can imagine.\" — Walter Dean Myers" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abf/walter-dean-myers-2582_imagine_writers-do-not-write-what-they-know-they_852331.png" --- # Writers do not write what they know. They write what they… ![“Writers do not write what they know. They write what they can imagine.” quote by Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abf/walter-dean-myers-2582_imagine_writers-do-not-write-what-they-know-they_852331.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abf/walter-dean-myers-2582_imagine_writers-do-not-write-what-they-know-they_852331.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abf/walter-dean-myers-2582_imagine_writers-do-not-write-what-they-know-they_852331.png) > “Writers do not write what they know. They write what they can imagine.” [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writers must imagine beyond personal experience to create compelling stories. **In simple terms:** Write what you can imagine, not just what you know. Key Takeaway Cultivate imagination. Themes creativity imagination writing knowledge Mood inspirational thoughtful Type literary educational When to use this quote - classroom teaching - creative workshops - author brainstorming Key Concepts Empathy creative thinking storytelling Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance fact and fiction? - What fuels your imagination? A Different Perspective Imagination may lack authenticity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writers/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I started out life as a writer, and writers write in part because they don't want to talk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/i-started-out-life-as-a-writer-and-writers-write-in-part-because-they/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [“I deal with writer’s block by lowering my expectations. 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I imagine. The act of imagining in itself enlivens me. I am not frozen and paralyzed before the predator. I invent characters.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grossman/i-write-i-imagine-the-act-of-imagining-in-itself-enlivens-me-i-am-not/) [David Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grossman/) > [“To be a great Writer, Write what you know & Write what other writers wouldn't write about.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maryann-gestwicki/to-be-a-great-writer-write-what-you-know-write-what-other-writers/) Maryann Gestwicki > [Writers write. Everyone else makes excuses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-bickham/writers-write-everyone-else-makes-excuses/) Jack Bickham > [You call this a script? Give me a couple of 5,000-dollar-a-week writers and I will write it myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-pasternak/you-call-this-a-script-give-me-a-couple-of-5-000-dollar-a-week/) Joe Pasternak > [All those writers who write about their own childhood! 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To a large extent this dehumanizes the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/when-we-think-of-war-the-tendency-is-to-picture-young-soldiers-only/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [The most difficult idea to reconcile in war is the notion that anything is going to be solved by killing a stranger, or in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/the-most-difficult-idea-to-reconcile-in-war-is-the-notion-that/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't guilty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/he-was-trying-to-convince-himself-that-he-wasn-t-guilty/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [Within the black community, roughly 60 percent of children are born to single moms. Moms don't have the emotional wherewithal to deal with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/within-the-black-community-roughly-60-percent-of-children-are-born-to/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [“pain is the only real emotion. Everything else can be taken away. Love,happiness,joy can always be taken away. Even old sadness can be dissipated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/pain-is-the-only-real-emotion-everything-else-can-be-taken-away-love/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [“People who want to hate you can find something in you they don't like. They have a talent for doing that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/people-who-want-to-hate-you-can-find-something-in-you-they-don-t-like/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [One of the lessons learned during the Vietnam War was that the depiction of wounded soldiers, of coffins stacked higher than their living guards,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/one-of-the-lessons-learned-during-the-vietnam-war-was-that-the/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [I am very much interested in getting parents to read to children, and trying to get people mentoring children. 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Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-d-palmer/) > [It seems an insult to nature and to the Creator to imagine that pregnancy was ever intended to be a sickness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliza-bisbee-duffey/it-seems-an-insult-to-nature-and-to-the-creator-to-imagine-that/) Eliza Bisbee Duffey > [A vacuum can only exist, I imagine, by the things which enclose it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zelda-fitzgerald/a-vacuum-can-only-exist-i-imagine-by-the-things-which-enclose-it/) [Zelda Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zelda-fitzgerald/) > [Never in a million years would I imagine Calvin Klein flying me out to my first men's fashion show.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cameron-dallas/never-in-a-million-years-would-i-imagine-calvin-klein-flying-me-out/) [Cameron Dallas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cameron-dallas/) > [Jonah Lehrer is one of the most talented explainers of science that we’ve got. What a pleasure it is to follow his investigation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-foer/jonah-lehrer-is-one-of-the-most-talented-explainers-of-science-that/) [Joshua Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-foer/) > [Life is more complicated than we think, yet far simpler than anyone dares to imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-durrell/life-is-more-complicated-than-we-think-yet-far-simpler-than-anyone/) [Lawrence Durrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-durrell/) > [I can't imagine not working, really. I just think work's more fun than fun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-quant/i-can-t-imagine-not-working-really-i-just-think-work-s-more-fun-than/) [Mary Quant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-quant/) > [Nowadays most people wear black most of the time anyway: go to a literary party and one would imagine everyone there was in perpetual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/nowadays-most-people-wear-black-most-of-the-time-anyway-go-to-a/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [Can you imagine any better example of divine creative accomplishment that the consummate flying machine that is a bird? The skeleton, very flexible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-murchie/can-you-imagine-any-better-example-of-divine-creative-accomplishment/) [Guy Murchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-murchie/) > [ I can't imagine that I would be asked that by the president-elect \[Donald Trump\], or then-president \[Barack Obama\]. But it's - I'm very clear.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-mattis/i-can-t-imagine-that-i-would-be-asked-that-by-the-president-elect/) [James Mattis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-mattis/) > [We live in such a special time when literally anything we can think of is possible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-willey/we-live-in-such-a-special-time-when-literally-anything-we-can-think/) [Daniel Willey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-willey/) > [Imagine what you'd do if it absolutely didn't matter what people thought of you. Got it? Good. Never go back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-beck/imagine-what-you-d-do-if-it-absolutely-didn-t-matter-what-people/) [Martha Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-beck/) > [ Together he \[Girolamo Savonarola\] and his archenemy Lorenzo \[de' Medici\] would have been the stuff of gargoyles. One could almost imagine the diptych in… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-dunant/together-he-girolamo-savonarola-and-his-archenemy-lorenzo-de-medici/) [Sarah Dunant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-dunant/) Browse all 6,768 Imagine quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Writers do not write what they know. 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