Writing.ie - Guest Blogs

What do The Pixies and Nirvana have to do with writing fiction? Dynamics.

The Galway based literary group have announced the call for submissions for their '2012 New Writer of the Year' competition

If you thought you were never going to be published, would you still do what you do?

Why do we write about bad people and dark situations?

1st Round of Crime Scene Reader's Book Club Reviews Are In - !!!!!! 

THE CHOSEN by ARLENE HUNT gets the thumbs up!

Where once the only soap operas available were Emmerdale and Coronation Street aired just twice weekly, these days soaps represent a huge slice of the television market with some producing up to five episodes every week, all year round.  To keep pace with demand, episodes are scripted by teams of writers and as a result many new ones get their first break by writing for one.

In this week's post, I look at the work of Lou Reed

After spending three days in London recently, at the much-talked about London Book Fair, I’ve had several conversations trying to explain to friends and family what it was all about. ‘No, it’s not like a big bookshop.’ ‘No, it’s not like a wedding fair.’ So, I thought I would share the distilled version of these conversations with your good selves.

So, what is it?

In its own words, London Book Fair (or LBF as it is known to its friends) is ‘the global market place and leading business-2-business exhibition for rights negotiation and the sales and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels. With over 400 seminars and events, 1,500 international exhibiting companies and 24,500 publishing professionals, The London Book Fair encompasses the broad spectrum of the publishing industry.’

In my words, London Book Fair is a gigantic publishing industry event which takes up the whole of Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The venue is so huge you literally need a map and grid references to navigate your way around the place. Here is where the foreign rights deals are done; where agents meet with publishers and pitch their client’s books to secure those much sought-after publication deals in different territories. But it is also a conference, with a multitude of seminars and workshops taking place under the umbrella of ‘Love Learning’. These covered everything from self-publishing to translation to illustrating children’s books and cookery demonstrations in Cook Book Corner. There was also a particular focus on the Chinese publishing industry this year.

Who should go?

Essentially, anyone can go. Although the event is really geared around the 'industry professionals' and - unlike a literary festival - isn’t really designed for authors, there is certainly plenty of interest. The dedicated author lounge held a number of interesting and relevant workshops and the author of the day interviews, held at the English PEN Café, were also fascinating. I went along to the extremely popular Caitlin Moran interview on the second day (and came away laughing at the men who had turned scarlet at her no-holds-barred views on feminism!).

Who was there?

It was a complete mixture, and made for a fascinating few days.  Officially, the exhibitors included Publishers, Literary Agents, Content Providers, Digital Solutions, Wholesalers, Distributors, Online Service providers, Non-Book Product Suppliers, Services Providers for Publishers, Service Suppliers for Booksellers, Book Packagers and Remainder and Promotional Dealers. Phew! So, basically, everyone and anyone connected with books!

On a personal level, I found it lovely to meet a few Twitter friends in real life (there was an organised ‘tweet-up’ at the fair on the Tuesday evening) and to also meet other authors, both traditionally and self-published. I met with publicists who I work with on the book review side and was also invited along to the launch, at the fair, of a new novel ‘The Light Between Oceans’ by M.L.Stedman. Having had a sneak preview of the book, it was lovely – and incredibly inspiring - to meet the author herself and chat to her about the book. I will be writing a full feature about this next week. The Alliance of Independent Authors also had a very well-supported, and very interesting launch event at the Fair.

Was it worth it?

For the admission fee for the three days of around £30, yes, absolutely (plus, I also tied the trip into visiting friends and doing some research for my new book). As someone who loves books and everything book-related, it was quite something to see the sheer scale of this event with my own eyes. To see the client area with so many meetings taking place, to speak to other authors, and to simply feel the sheer buzz and vibrancy about the place, was well worth it. I came away full of inspiration and a renewed determination to, well, carry on writing. I will quite probably go again – particularly if I can integrate other meetings while in London. For anyone who wants to know what all the fuss is about, it’s certainly worth going once.

Maybe, one day, I will have a book of my own displayed on one of the publisher's, rather fancy stands. *sighs dreamily*

To read more about London Book Fair visit http://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/Home/

Brian Merriman, Artistic Director of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival talks to Writing.ie about the upcoming festival and the role the festival can play in today's society.

"Before Vanishing..." is a new and unique event being staged at the Focus Theatre, Dublin by Mouth on Fire Theatre as they stage English and Irish language versions of some of Samuel Beckett's best known plays.

The continuing drama series has always been popular and will doubtless remain so.  Mainstays for all channels are crime and medical dramas, many of which use multiple writers to script episodes. BBC One’s Doctors, for example, have been known to use up to 30 (30!) new writers in a single series. So, how do you go about becoming of them?

Who knew a little thing like recording and releasing your own album would be such hard work?

Short story by Louise Phillips.  'Another Road' - One young man's crime against another, done within the perceived protections of middle-class suburban Dublin.

How I released my own album thanks to Social Media

Breaking news.  The world is in the grip of an ever deepening depression.  If escape from grim reality was ever needed, the time is now.  And get this.  Despite the economic downturn, comedy clubs are doing better than ever.

Writing about crime, fictional or real-life, carries with it a responsibility. A responsibility which is inherent in all good writing, the search to write a truth. Violent crimes are emotive and disturbing, especially when the innocent victim is a young adult, or a child. We ask ourselves why and how this can happen? But the questions multiply again, when the person, or persons, who committed the crime, are little more than children themselves.

Some research tips and pointers for those facing into exams and theses in English and the Humanities or for those just looking to write using archival sources

Guest blogger Jean Turbidy brings a flavour of Waterford Writers Weekend (23rd-25th March) to The Front Row and reveals just what magic can be made at writer's workshops...

Waterford Writers' Weekend 2012 came to a close at Christ Church Cathedral to what I now feel is Waterford's anthem 'Come the Sails.' This is a poem by John Ennis, put to music by Sue Furlong. The lines are still ringing in my ears:

Do you regularly spot news items and think someone should make a television series out of it?  Are your fingers itching to write storylines for soaps you love to watch?  Yes?  Well, read on because I’m switching gears into teacher mode and over the coming weeks will be dishing out tips and tasters on writing for television.  Ready?  Let’s go!

Tiny Plays for Ireland, currently on at the Project Arts Centre, is staged by Fishamble in association with the Irish Times and puts recession Ireland firmly under the spotlight in a series of 25 new three-minute plays. Barry Houlihan looks at how these micro-plays really puts Ireland to task.