Workshop – Elisabeth Storrs: The Telling Detail: transforming historical research into inspiration
Time: 10:15 am to 12:00 pm
Place: Dixson Room, State Library of NSW
Cost: Members $40, non-members $55
How do you merge inspiration, obsession, and craft? A passion for history is essential for an historical novelist but it’s important to convert facts that fascinate you into a narrative that will captivate your reader. Inspiration for a book’s concept is only the first step on the journey. Historical research can be the genesis for individual components of a novel including plot, dialogue, characterisation and sense of place.
In this workshop, you’ll gain insights into categorising research to identify ‘telling details’ for inspiration and also bring immediacy to your writing to avoid ‘history showing through’ to the detriment of pace and narrative flow.
Each participant will receive a handout of presentation slides together with online writing tools such as timelines and character dossiers.
One writing exercise will be conducted during the day that will enable participants to apply the techniques learned.
The course is useful for those planning to write an historical novel but will be most beneficial for writers who have already commenced their book.
Expected Learning Outcomes
1. Identify sources for research;
2. Create a personalised research database and chapter outlines; and
3. Synthesise facts into imagery to give depth to characters, drive plot and instil a sense of place.
Participant Requirements
Pen and paper are essential.
Elisabeth is the author of the award winning A Tale of Ancient Rome trilogy which has been endorsed by best-selling authors Ursula Le Guin, Ben Kane and Kate Quinn. The third book in the saga, Call to Juno, was an Editor’s Choice and featured on the cover of the international Historical Novel Review. She is the founder of the Historical Novel Society Australasia which introduced the $150,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize in 2020.
Literary Event
Time: 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm
Place: Dixson Room, State Library of NSW
Cost: Members $25, non-members $40
Member Spotlight – Christine Sykes: Tapping – from Page to Stage
Christine will talk about the SCWC/Merringong Theatre Playwrights Program and her adaptation of The Tap Cats of the Sunshine Coast into a play which is being performed in 2025.
Christine has three published books: two novels and a memoir as well as short stories and poems in several anthologies.
The Changing Room (2019), and Gough and Me: My Journey from Cabramatta to China and Beyond (2022) won awards from the NSW Society of Women Writers.
Published in 2023, The Tap Cats of the Sunshine Coast, was inspired by her own and her aunt’s experience taking up tap dancing in retirement.
Guest Speaker – Jan Conway: The Photo Album: turning the page on forgotten stories
Learn how a writer’s residency fuelled Jan’s historical novel in progress, The Photo Album. Jan will share some of the extraordinary stories of her ancestors, unearthed during her three months researching in North Devon, Wales and London. Explore the emotional and intellectual rewards of uncovering the lives of her ancestors from dusty archives to bustling villages little changed by the passage of time.
Jan was awarded the 2024 Di Yerbury Residency, Barnstaple North Devon. Several of her stories are published in anthologies. Her memoir, Skimming the Surface – Expats in Kiribati was highly commended in the Society of Women Writers NSW Member Book Awards 2022.
Announcement of Di Yerbury Residency 2025
A presentation will be made by our patron, Professor Emerita Di Yerbury to the winner of the 2025 Di Yerbury Residency Award, followed by the Judges’ Report and Winner’s Response.
This Award is for a writing residency for a female writer, generously donated by Di Yerbury. The residency is located in the North Devon town of Barnstaple, UK. As a major tourist centre, Barnstaple has excellent public transport and car access to the moors, famous beaches and pretty villages. Accommodation is in a comfortably-furnished, one-bedroom apartment in a retirement village in Barnstaple for a period of up to three months.
Book and pay:
Members, you can book for yourself and a friend at member pricing, if purchased at the same time.
Workshop: Members $40, non-members $55
If you have a Workshop Voucher, please email Julie Thorndyke, Workshop Coordinator, to advise your intention to attend.
Literary event: Members $25, non-members $40
Discount for full program (Workshop and Literary Event) when booked together:
Members $60, non-members $85
By Credit card: https://www.trybooking.com/CYAIY
or by Direct debit:
The Society of Women Writers NSW Inc
BSB: 062 018
Account: 00950433
Code: VM
Email Amanda and include
your name, receipt number and date of event
Zoom ($10) will be available for this function – please click here to book: https://www.trybooking.com/CYAIM