{"id":4387,"date":"2023-02-20T10:30:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T10:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writebythesea.ie\/?p=4387"},"modified":"2023-02-20T10:34:42","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T10:34:42","slug":"february-30-finding-your-story-writing-what-you-know-and-writing-what-you-dont-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writebythesea.ie\/february-30-finding-your-story-writing-what-you-know-and-writing-what-you-dont-know\/","title":{"rendered":"February 30 &#8211; Finding your story: writing what you know and writing what you don\u2019t know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\">Book a Place<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018Write what you know\u2019 is often given as advice to writers looking for a story. Many authors use the routines and experience of everyday life \u2013 what they know \u2013 as the foundations of fiction. All stories are found, to a lesser or greater degree, through an author\u2019s own perception of the world around them. As author Derek Neale has pointed out, writing what you know means sharpening one\u2019s powers of perception. How do we sharpen those powers of perception to best transform what we know into the most effective language? How do we find the limits of our perception when we are writing? And, importantly, how do we write about the things we don\u2019t know \u2013 those elements of the world that remain mysterious to us or imperceptible yet are central to our intuition and the wider human experience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Workshop Format<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In this workshop, Eoghan Smith will explore the basics of how to find your story through writing about \u2018what you know\u2019, as well as writing about \u2018what you don\u2019t know\u2019. He will cover topics such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What we know: the building blocks of stories \u2013 the world around us<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The importance of perception \u2013 noticing and using details<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Class exercises &#8211; creating stories from the people, places and things we notice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Break<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Writing about things we don\u2019t know<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recognising and overcoming the limits of perception<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Class exercises \u2013 finding the beginnings of stories<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About Eoghan Smith<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Eoghan Smith is the author of the novels <em>The Failing Heart<\/em> (2018) and <em>A Provincial Death <\/em>(2022). His other books include a monograph on John Banville and a co-edited collection of essays on Irish Suburban Literature and Culture. His essays and criticism have been published widely in publications such as The Irish Times and Dublin Review of Books, and he is a regular contributor to Books Ireland. He holds a PhD from Maynooth University. He currently teaches creative writing at Carlow College, as well as other courses in literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Write what you know\u2019 is often given as advice to writers looking for a story. Many authors use the routines and experience of everyday life \u2013 what they know \u2013 as the foundations of fiction. All stories are found, to a lesser or greater degree, through an author\u2019s own perception of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workshops"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>February 30 - Finding your story: writing what you know and writing what you don\u2019t know - Write By The Sea Literary Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/writebythesea.ie\/february-30-finding-your-story-writing-what-you-know-and-writing-what-you-dont-know\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"February 30 - Finding your story: writing what you know and writing what you don\u2019t know - Write By The Sea Literary Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018Write what you know\u2019 is often given as advice to writers looking for a story. 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