Waterford Writers Weekend
I had a wonderful time at Waterford Writers Weekend this year!
The highlight for me was a short story writing workshop facilitated by the very talented Patrick Holloway.
He touched on a lot of elements of the craft, but the key takeaway for me was that you need to know what you’re trying to say with your story.
I know this might seem obvious, but when I get an idea for a story it’s usually just a glimmer of a character, or a place, or a situation. Deeper themes don’t always reveal themselves until the second or third draft, at which point I might have to do some cutting to bring just one theme to the fore.
In all honesty, I probably gave up on stories that had promise purely because I didn’t have the patience to follow this process all the way through—to sit with the stories, and to try to figure out what they were really all about (and then rewrite them with that in mind!).
After the workshop I was inspired to go home and dig out an old story to see what I could do with it (a horror story—which seemed right given the time of year!). This was after going for coffee with some of the other writers on the course, which was a real pleasure.
The life of a writer can be a little isolating at times (particularly in recent years when so much of the rest of our lives has gone virtual). It was so nice to be able to chat with other writers face to face and share the highs and lows!
So although November is normally associated with new projects (Nanowrimo, for instance), I’m doing the opposite—editing my upcoming fantasy novel and now also rethinking the horror short story. For any fellow writers out there who don’t feel like jumping into a new project just now, perhaps there’s a story you gave up on too soon that deserves another look!