09/12/2023

THE CHAIN – the writer

A television comedy-drama mini-series – by Bob Denton

The situations encountered in THE CHAIN are based upon my own experiences. I have moved home more than twenty times – that’s three times the UK national average! In fact the issues navigated by the characters, do not begin to scratch the surface of the tragedic and comedic situations that I have encountered first-hand.

Moving can often be fraught, but it is also an adventure, you are sailing into the unknown, building a new future, new experiences. THE CHAIN follows the experiences of five couples in a fraught property chain.

But writing about what you know is not universally accepted:

Mark Twain said: Write what you know.
P D James agreed: You absolutely should write about what you know.
There are all sorts of small things that you should store up and use,
nothing is lost to a writer …
All experience, whether it is painful or whether it is happy is somehow stored up
and sooner or later it’s used.
Kazuo Ishiguro argued: ‘Write about what you know’ is the most stupid thing I’ve heard. It encourages people to write a dull autobiography.
It’s the reverse of firing the imagination and the potential of writers.
Dan Brown suggested instead: You should write something that
you need to go and learn about.
Lee Child stated: I think [write what you know] is very bad advice.
Very few people know enough to make an exciting story,
and very few people can escape the clotted and
overcrowded prose that usually results.
Ken Kesey agreed: One of the dumbest things you were ever taught
was to write what you know. Because what you know is usually dull.

As always, you can find every shade of any opinion, on any subject.

Forward to Synopsis
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