Writer's Fallout Shelter

Actually the Potter characters draw from stock roles from popular British children's books about boarding school. A teacher of mine loved those books because they reminded her so much of more 'standard' tales she read as a young girl in England. The only thing that Rowling doesn't "know" is magic, and I would argue that the magical elements in the book, while charming, at times lack consistency. It is the same with Card. The book isn't 'about' space, it's set in space. The setting is no less imagined than Winesburg, Ohio, though the methods and means to get there are fantastical. What the actual story is about, however-growing up, emotion, etc. are almost certainly well within Card's reach.

I have always, however, found "write what you know," to be a strange expression. How does one write anything else? Making stuff up has never been unacceptable; quite the contrary. It's the sort of advice that most people follow anyways, but someone thought of turning it into a saying.