David O'Sullivan's Blog, page 23
July 5, 2016
six am outside the courthouse
It is cold and dark and six am.
The clock tower is lit up like a fool
and I am waiting for it to strike the hour
because I love the sound of bells.
I start singing, quietly at first but then I get into it
and I sing
Men in fluorescent clothing go riding past on bicycles
off to some worksite to start work early.
Water drips from the iron railings
it is almost raining again
the clouds are so low they touch the tall apartment buildings
There are three yellow lights on in the entire place.
He started drinking heavily after the divorce
she went to another country and never came back
She sent him a photo
he sat in my lounge room and started crying
Huge heavy tears like grapes rolled down his face
I wanted to say it’d be OK
but there was no guarantee
anything would be OK
Still standing here in front of the courthouse
I feel happy
even though
it is 6.01 am
Don’t forget! My next novel Anvil Soul is to be released in August.
June 21, 2016
Review of The Bomber
Please go to https://snowflakesarise.wordpress.com/ to see my latest review of my first novel ‘The Bomber’
While looking at the review check out the new cover design picture!
June 14, 2016
After the Funeral
After the funeral,
Returning home, I stand in the hall and take off my boots
The light is weak; the night is dark
I look up and see the kitchen where we spent many Christmases and birthdays
And the conversations that would never come again
Come back, come back! He said
But I left nonetheless
But I came back too, eventually.
The death, something I dreaded and thought about all my life is now true.
Once as a boy, maybe aged ten, I began to cry in class
“What is the matter?” The teacher asked.
“I am afraid that one day my parents will die” I replied, and she kindly
told me it would be many years away, but the class laughed still
That a boy should start to cry in class over something like that
How strange.
We worked in the office together for a year
And I loved her
But never said anything. How things could have been different.
My mind, standing in the hall wanders to these other things
And I feel ashamed.
I look up and realise how lonely this house is now. Silent.
I once loved silence.
June 7, 2016
The Room
The lights annoy me
they hum, the light they give out is weak
and the switch is broken, hanging free.
I feel the place was wired up by the owner,
When I plug something into a power outlet,
I see a bright white flash, a deadly threat.
I look at her pictures
over and over again,
between clothes I have hung inside on various fixtures
because it has rained for days
They dry slowly, filling the room with dampness and haze.
The lights humming
the air thick and damp
the neighbours music drumming
a sad sharp noise in my ear.
Time is flying, nearing the end of a year.
June 6, 2016
Anvil Soul
My next novel Anvil Soul is to be released in August.
Over the ne next few weeks I will share with you what the novel is about, cover reveal and my inspiration for writing this new novel. Stay tuned!
meanwhile, here are my top three writing tips:
1. Read widely but also experience as much of you can. A combination of good books and a good life make a powerful writer.
2. Write everyday. Writing well is a talent that, like a muscle, becomes more powerful with use.
3. Imagination, intelligence and natural talent play a large role, but so does luck. Do not write to be famous, write to release the pressure that builds up in every creative person.
May 9, 2016
how to write more
To write you must make time for it. Set aside a specific time of the day, make sure you show up, and be sure to put your fingers on the key board. It sounds simple, right? It is a lot harder than it sounds.
First, make sure you have a designated area for writing. Somewhere quiet and free from distractions. I do not like cafes, I do not like writing on the bus going to work. This might work for you, but for best results, I recommend you set up a writing space, have your desk clear, avoid looking at youtube and face the empty page. Breathe. Write carefully, aim for a target amount of words and keep to it. Training to write well is the same as achieving any goal. Be there every day, put the hours in and clear your mind of distractions.
Treat your writing as importantly as any other aspect of life that you wish to succeed in, be there for your characters, be there to put words on the page. If you miss one day, try to make up for it the next, do not let the writing slip away from you.
Most of all think carefully about your work, read it through, edit it, read the work of other authors. Always try to improve, always work hard. Be a better writer than you were yesterday, show empathy towards all and search your soul. Ask yourself, am I being honest in my writing? Am I adding something of value to this blank page? Do I love to write or am I hoping for fame? If you are hoping for fame, invent a cure for cancer
May 3, 2016
How to create dialogue
To create dialogue effectively you must be a great listener. Listen to people speak, listen to how things sound when spoken. You must however, also walk that line of making sure what you have written makes sense to the reader.
Dialogue helps the reader understand the plot, characters and atmosphere. It is necessary to allow the story to progress. It is a great tool to allow the reader into the life of the characters, to understand them to a much deeper degree. It also breaks up the monotony of description in a story.
I believe one of the most effective tools to use when writing dialogue is to read it aloud to yourself once you have created it. If it does not sound like something people would actually say in the situation they are in, then you should consider a careful edit. I have spoken to writers while making suggestions about their dialogue and I have said;
“Are you sure these people in this situation would speak like this to each other?”
Occasionally I will receive the response;
“I don’t know, I’ve never been in this situation, I think they would.” Or similar.
Straight away I know that this writer is not creating anything worthwhile. Once they say ‘I don’t know’ then I understand that they are not working hard enough to create this situation. You must know. The characters you create must be real enough in your mind that you would have no doubts. Even if you have not been in the situation, you must know the character well enough to know how they will react and what they will say.
Other errors that occur include having the author speak in a clichéd or superficial way. If their loved one had died and they respond with a blood curdling “Noooooo!” Is this how your character would respond or is this some memory of a favourite character in a movie or book you have read? Your character may be a quiet and dark person who would weep silently, perhaps they are a cruel heartless individual who would not care at all. Make sure you remain consistent and careful in your word choice.
Most of all, know how people speak, have an open ear and an open mind in all the things you do. How do people speak to each other in the street, what words choices, what tone of voice do they use? How does this differ to when they are at a party, at work or in a train at night? People and communication changes all the time depending on external and internal issues. They might be sad, frightened, lost, happy, they might be at work or at play. Your dialogue must carefully reflect these changes. Careful dialogue helps the reader move through your writing and most of all it adds realism and value to your work.
Happy writing.
March 26, 2016
THE BOMBER by DAVID O’SULLIVAN
Title: The Bomber Author: David O’Sullivan Pages: 350 Publisher: Pen Name Publishing Publication Date: 24 June 2015 Rating: ★★★ I received a review copy of this book from the author…
Source: THE BOMBER by DAVID O’SULLIVAN
March 15, 2016
The clean rain, the factory roof.
The smell of spinach cooked on a cold evening,
the dying light disappearing down the drive.
Over the freeway and railway, over the hills,
the city;
glows in golden twinkles and the tall towers look like lighthouse on hills,
looking over the cold motherless sea.
I would lie awake in bed happy
that I was no ones boss yet still well considered.
Voices from the other houses around me,
children screaming,
women crying out.
A new woman has moved in near me and she is a beauty.
I watch her walk by my window, she passes at dawn.
I bicycle to work on those mornings,
the puddles on the path-
passing the factories, the freeway to my left,
the smell of spray paint and sewerage to my right.
The grey long warehouses
one had the temperature displayed about its main doors;
the number in bright red LED.
The sad faces and equally sad trucks going in and out the smoke covered gates,
once a red sports car drove past
but here among the factories
it too looked sad and pointless.
I was always happy to be moving away from those factories
my two wheels whizzing away on the cement road.
March 8, 2016
Update
It has been a long hot summer here in Australia. There has been no rain for a long time and not only is it painfully hot, the ground outside is turning to dust and the trees are dying. Even now that Autumn has arrived, the heat is as high or higher than it was through summer.
The last few months, I have been editing my next novel, Anvil Soul, it is coming along very well and I am extremely happy with it. I have a great team behind me who give me advice, encouragement and helping me when things seems hard.
I am really looking forward to the winter. I hope it brings a lot of rain and cold weather. I watched a youtube video on happiness as it relates to the weather. It focused on hot days by the beach, blue skies and short happy warm nights. It was made in England and it was a new video so it focused on a northern winter. I found it unsettling. I love swimming and time on the sand but I have had enough of hot nights and burning deadly sun. I would love a long cold night in front of the fire, the sound of water dripping into puddles outside and the lazy quiet times that cold weather brings.
Both ideals, the missed summer, the dreams of the beach and warm-weather fun and the cold comfortable nights under blankets and near the fire are ideals of half forgotten truths. The winter I long for is the winter of dreams and memories, there are nice times in winter just like the summer. But I am forgetting the cold feet in the morning, the going to work in the freezing rain, the lighting of fires that take a long time to warm a house. The people who made the video longing for summer are forgetting the sun burn and the melting heat, the garden that dies and the car that doubles as an oven if left out in the sun.
Both are wonderful times of the year, both are horrid, it is life. Enjoy it while you can because we do not have an unlimited amount of them.
Check out my novel The Bomber at amazon.to/1M429jZ
It is on sale at the moment and I’d love it if you would have a look and let me know what you think.
