Lucy Caldwell, Writing the Moments that Matter

O'Donoghue Centre, University of Galway

O'Donoghue Centre, University of Galway, Ireland

Robert McLiam Wilson says in Eureka Street that "All stories are love stories". If we think about how coming-of-age happens for us all at multiple times, in multiple ways, and isn't a straightforward trajectory – could all stories, in a way, be coming-of-age stories? Do we ever truly come of age? What might it mean to come of age in your sixties, seventies – on your hundredth birthday? What does it mean as a human to embrace change, or to resist it? In this workshop, we’ll look at how to use pivotal moments in our lives to inspire our fiction – from the richnesses of childhood to the complex and painful times of growth we all must go through as adults. We’ll find wild creative freedom and inspiration in the power of myths that take us through transformation and transfiguration. It will be a welcoming, intimate and exhilarating space where we mine and share our own experience, learn invaluable practical tips and techniques, and have lots of room to play, letting our imaginations run wild, going away with plenty of templates for stories to write.