Last night I attended a writing workshop at Writing NSW, https://writingnsw.org.au/ on Finding the detail: research tools for writers, presented by Eleanor Limprecht. Eleanore has written three novels, many articles and reviews and she gave insights into her research.
https://www.eleanorlimprecht.com/about/ You can read more about her books on her website.
It was held at Writing NSW, headquaters, at Callan Park.
On the handout Eleanore had a quote from Paul Auster, an American writer and director, which said, “The truth of the story lies in the detail.” It is the details that we find, for our ancestors that make them real for us and so it should be when we write about them.
Eleanor covered topics from Why Research? What are our resources? Types of information. Ways to organise your research. Ethical Considerations. And the one we all struggle with, How to put research aside and write.
I found that how she researches, for her novels, isn’t that different to how I and probably you, research for our ancestors. It was interesting to hear Eleanor say she used Ancestry to help locate a descendent, of one of the people in her book, Long Bay, so she could ask permission to use the person.
I could write all about the talk but that would not be right, because you should hear Eleanor present her talk, it was well worth the drive, in peak hour traffic to get there.
{As I’m writing this a dove has just tried to come through my window and has made such a noise, that I’ve been distracted,}
Callan Park is a beautiful place, full of history and sadness. I’m going to spend more time wandering around the area, as I haven’t seen much of it.
Writing NSW, is what was the NSW Writers Centre, just a name change. This was the first event I have attended and found it really good. Their website, see above, has their information and is well worth checking out.
The evening finished at around 9.00pm and as Sydney has had much needed rain, for the past week, I wasn’t surprised to find that it had rained, whilst I had been inside. I rang my husband and he kept the call very short, “Darling we are in the middle if a massive thunderstorm, drive safe and I’ll see you when you get in.” Well… The first part, of the drive wasn’t to bad, wet roads, flashes of lightning, in the distance, the direction I was driving towards and a little light rain. Then once I got past Belmore, on Canterbury Road, it became a nightmare. Torrential rain, to the extent I had my wipers in high and the most brilliant of lightening flashes. If I had been inside, I would probably like them, but not when driving. I will say that the other drivers were in the same boat and we all crawled along. Then the road started to become flooded. Then kerdside lane had very large puddles covering it, making the drive even more fun,(not). Coming past Officeworks, at Punchbowl, it got worse and with no way to be able to safely stop and park, I crawled along, in the middle lane. When I reached River Road, I had to turn left, this required me to go into the middle lane and then turn left as the left turn lane and the next one were both flooded. I arrived home and wasn’t surprised to find that my hands were shaking and my legs felt like jelly.
An interesting end to a great night.
Bye for now,
Lilian.
