Of course I wasn't referring to the fantasy genre, lol. I was referring to real-life matters, such as a job, a place etc. No matter where the novel is set, people still have jobs, and they live somewhere. You have a doctor today and a doctor in the 1800 and even a healer in 1300 or a surgeon in the ancient Egypt, and even though the clothes are different, and the meds available change and evolve, the basic working life of a doctor/healer has remain unchanged. Surgical texts they found in Egypt, which date from 2500 bc read almost exactly like current surgical textbooks. They did nose jobs, ear corrections, limb amputations, appendicectomies, even some rudimentary forms of neurosurgery. Their wound management was almost the same as it is today (just they used honey and other natural materials while we buy pre-made dressings). So in that sense, even if I was writing about ancient Egypt, what I would "know" best would be something similar to the job I do now. Same as the place, someone from modern Egypt would "know" what it is like to live in Egypt at any point in history, much better that I do. Ok, maybe total fantasy such as Tolkien or Pratchett are an exception because they can invent everything from scratch and make a world that is only metaphorically connected to our own, but I don't read or write in that genre, it simply doesn't appeal to me. I write modern gothic stories, deeply character driven, sci fi, suspense, supernatural, romance, mystery, things like that and I like to inject a good dose of realism to offset the fantasy/supernatural element. So my characters jobs are mentioned, sometimes they are described in some detail, and sometimes they are an important part of a plot. In that sense I was saying, even though I know so much about my own job and it would make sense to simply write medical thrillers because I wouldn't need to do much research, I don't feel like doing it because it does not hold the fascination I feel is necessary for me to be passionate writing about it. I didn't think they were actually referring to emotional experiences because to me that was self-evident. But if I was wrong than that's great, because then I have nothing to worry about since most writers seem to feel the way I do, yay
