A workshop with author Colm Toibin

The workshop featuring Colm Toibin, the author of Brooklyn, was an interesting look at an author’s train of thoughts as they work on their books. I’ve never stopped to think about the immense amount of work that goes into writing a book. While it may seem obvious that hours and hours go into writing a novel, in his speech, Colm Toibin made it seem almost as if it was an easy process. This however could just be that he is such a good writer that he makes it seem easy. For example, I found it surprising that he did not use any notes while writing Brooklyn. I also thought it was convenient that he was able to base his characters on real life people. He also based some events in his novel on his own experiences. His hardest challenge, however, was writing a story that resonated so well with the millions of immigrants who go through a similar experience of moving to a new country. Perhaps, because he is a great writer, he executed the story perfectly in that immigrants identify closely with the emotions and thoughts of Eilis. Apart from this, I found that it was great that he was able to joke around towards the end of the workshop in what otherwise up to this point had been a serious discussion. I’ve never felt passionate about wanting to meet an author but this “behind-the-scenes” look at writing Brooklyn was an interesting first and it perhaps won’t be the last for me.