On Wednesday evening, Carolyn and Fiona led a most useful and inspiring workshop. But before they got started, the important details of our upcoming Drabble competition and the date for our first summer readaround at Culzean were announced.
Carolyn and Fiona share a love for research, especially family and local history. This was immediately clear as they presented their knowledge and experience around this week’s topic – using primary sources in writing.
Primary sources provide raw information and first-hand evidence. By the end of the evening, we had learned about the beauty of using primary sources, whether it be through a personal connection or something that interests us.
The advantages of using primary sources include knowing how it all ends, and that no imagination is needed. The disadvantages can come from getting it wrong, and of course, the limitations, such as obtaining verification.
The subjective approach, using first person, allows for quite informal and perhaps emotive writing. In contrast, the use of the objective approach, with no personal connection, is more formal, using the past tense and writing in third person.
Fiona and Carolyn provided us with some fascinating examples of primary sources to examine and use as an inspiration for our writing exercises. We were all intrigued by the photos, books, certificates, postcards, and newspaper extracts, which stretched from the early 20th century to the 1980s.
These proved to be a fantastic inspiration for our writing. The room went quiet as everyone became absorbed in their own world. We then listened as members read their pieces – such a fantastic range of writing, as ever. Some memories of vinyl collections, looking back at a TV page from 1976 and thoughts about the experiences of a schoolgirl in 1910.
Fiona described the many questions an item could inspire in a writer, and the power in using primary sources.
A couple of hints and tips from the night – when using quotations, make it clear if the original text has been altered. And it’s wise to compare information by using different sources – whenever possible.
We had our usual pause for refreshments and chatter and then Linda announced the winners of our two latest competitions – The Scottish Article and The Short Story. Well done everyone!
For our ‘Last Word,’ Morag read her beautiful poem, describing memory making on the beach.
Many thanks go to Fiona and Carolyn for a most useful evening. Another Wednesday evening very well spent!
Lizzie Gowans