Louise Phillips's Blog, page 71

Cover of The Doll's House

It's always interesting to look at covers. This new one of THE DOLL'S HOUSE coming out soon in large print with Clipper Books looks very different to the original but I really like the landscape and the colour tones.

Interested in writing crime fiction?

Crime Writing with Louise Phillips
Wednesday 5th February; 6.30pm–8.30pmDuration: 8 weeks; Cost: €220/€200 members
This course will cover many elements of successful crime writing – creating tension, pace, memorable characters, effective dialogue, a plot with twists and turns, and an utterly gripping page turning story.
Over the course of the eight weeks, we will use content, weekly workshop exercises, and editorial critique to assist you in sharpening your narrative voice. Research is a huge component of crime writing - how much, how little, and where do you find the answers you're looking for?
Alongside the examination of the area of research, during the course, we will have visits from professionals who will take you step-by-step through crime scene evaluation and the gathering of forensic evidence. Whether you have written a crime a novel and want to improve it, or you have started one, and want the impetus to finish it, or even if you are simply at the idea stage, this course will get you closer to the finish line.

BOOKING LINK - or call 01-8721302
Student Testimonials: “I have taken several courses at the IWC and although I must say all of them have been enjoyable and inspiring, Crime Writing with Louise Phillips has been so far the best. She is a great help not only from the point of view of what the genre is about but also about the specific texts she asks her students to do, which she checks with a magnifier glass. Her corrections are always worthy because as a teacher she is devoted, critical and encouraging.” - Bruce Swansey

“I would strongly recommend the crime writing course at the I.W.C. by Louise Phillips. I took the course last Autumn and found it both inspirational and informative. It gave me a vivid insight into the world of crime writing. Everything was covered, from writing styles and techniques to forensics. It made me want to get going and write my crime novel.” - Jennifer Farrell.

“I found the crime writing course with Louise Phillips to be so effective.  Each week was themed and well structured. It helped me with pace and tension in my novel, and how to develop a cracking good plot.  The real life detective element as part of the course was also a ‘wow’ factor for me - learning about true investigations, how a crime scene is worked and preserved, and ultimately how to catch the murderer, and.from someone who has done it in real life. An excellently delivered course by an award winning author gets the five stars from me, and is highly recommended to all aspiring crime writers.” - Patricia Gibney[image error]
ABOUT LOUISE PHILLIPSBorn in Dublin, Louise Phillip’s work has been published as part of many anthologies including County Lines from New Island and various literary journals. In 2009 she won the Jonathan Swift Award and in 2011 she was a winner in the Irish Writers’ Centre Lonely Voice platform. She has also been short-listed for the Molly Keane Memorial Award, Bridport UK, and long-listed twice for the RTÉ Guide/Penguin Short Story Competition. In 2012 she was awarded an Arts Bursary for Literature from South Dublin County Council Arts Division.Louise Phillips is the bestselling author of psychological crime thrillers, Red Ribbons and The Doll's House, recent winner of the 2013 Ireland AM Crime Fiction Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.. She is currently working on her third novel.

HOW LONG IS A NOVEL!!!

I reached 70,000 words today. It feels like a milestone.

I thought starting out that this new novel wouldn't be as long as the others (110,000 words). I had hoped I learned that sometimes, less is often more, from the wonderfully talented Arlene Hunt. But the darn things keeps on growing extra limbs.

Maybe when I reach the end, I'll be glad of my ignorance of it's final word count. Always best not to panic - Keep writing calmly and effectively. That will have to do me for now!!

Abandoned Apartment in Paris!

Madame de Florian was a French socialite and actress who fled to the south of France during World War II. She kept her apartment in Paris on the Right Bank near the Opéra Garnier, though, in case she wanted to return. However, she never went back to it after the war. Since 1942, the apartment has been sitting untouched, until recently when an auctioneer entered her apartment. What he found was a time capsule, full of treasures....This is an incredible story, to view more images and read full article, click   HERE

Trusting the process!

I've had a few good days with the writing of Novel 3, and thankfully I have reached my daily targets. Today wasn't such a great day, and I don't really know why, but nonetheless, I pushed myself to write as you so often have to. Yes, I know, I should be saying how wonderful it all is, and of course it does have it's wonders, but there are sticky points too!

It's a scary thing this writing lark, because you have to take a risk with it, write even when you're not sure what you're going to say, accept that you will rarely (if ever) get it right first time out, and that you will become frustrated with both yourself and the story as it unravels to the end.

I was given some good pieces of advice about writing the first draft of a novel, but two of them have stuck with me.

The first is 'to turn up'. By that I mean, to allocate time to write, and sit at your laptop, or notebook, and stay there even if you don't want to. If you've allocated 2-3 hours, you will eventually write something. A novel won't write itself, and even if it is only a couple of hundred words, you are further advancing the story.

The second piece of advice is to 'trust the process'. If you've written a novel before, you will know that you go through doubts, that you won't have the story line fully developed, that characters and words will come and go, and finally, when that lovely moment arrives and your words are ready to go off to be independent by getting printed in an actual book, you will know that you have written the best story you can, done the most with each of the characters, changed more words than you could ever comprehend, and learned stuff in the process.

So, I'm not going to beat myself up about a bad day. Fingers crossed it will be a lot better tomorrow, but either way, I'll turn up and I'll trust the process!

Latest Goodreads Review of RED RIBBONS

Red Ribbons 
by Louise Phillips (Goodreads Author) 

Karmel's review 
Jan 08, 14


The debut novel from Irish author Louise Phillips, Red Ribbons is a definite page turner, superbly written in a simple yet effective manner. From the start, the characters are subtly developed, making both their existence and circumstances more believable than others put to paper in the same genre.

The plot is centred around three narrators, each providing a unique insight to each angle of the story. Great characters are introduced, Kate Pearson, the criminal psychologist hired by police to hunt down the serial killer responsible for the body of a young schoolgirl, found buried in the Dublin Mountains, who discovers how hauntingly familiar her investigation becomes, the more she uncovers, and
Ellie Brady, a woman sent to an institution 14 years previous for murdering her own daughter Amy.
The narration from the serial killer cemented my love for this book, as I really enjoyed the characters tainted outlook, and reasons for being.
Red Ribbons is a gritty read, which I found impossible to put down, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fast and thrilling read

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Margaret Forster wrote in tribute to Daphne Du Maurier after she died in 1989, that "No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification...she satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied too the exacting requirements of "real literature", something very few novelists ever do."

I must admit, I am later than most coming to this story of REBECCA, but it was no less a joy because of this. In fact, I can visualize my young teenage self reading it, and coming away with the same heartfelt delight. 

The novel tells the story of a young girl, (we are never told her name) who whilst working as a companion in Monte Carlo, meets the widow Max De Winters, who proposes marriage, and after a brief honeymoon on the continent, whisks her off to his isolated ancestral home, Manderley. We are introduced briefly to the character of Rebecca initially by way of a note in a book, but it is on arriving at Manderley, that the ominous late wife, Rebecca, is brought back to life through the stories and beliefs of others, not least of which is the dark and disturbing Mrs Danvers, Rebecca's maid and close companion.

Rebecca, an International best seller which has never gone out of print is a haunting tale that everyone should read, whether you are 15, or 115.  

It is a dark Gothic mystery that will have you captivated from beginning to end. A curl up in front of the fire book, one that kept me up to the early hours of the morning reading, and one which I looked forward to picking up each day, the way you only can, when you find a great book. I find myself disappointed now that it is over. 

So what had me hooked? Great storytelling for sure, an almost magical enthralling read, without a doubt. A good dash of darkness and spice and secrets, alongside the fragility of the human spirit,some good plot twists, even if one or two were a bit of a stretch, a layered story, opening the window for the reader into another time and place, the wonderful location of Manderley, the dark west wing and Mrs Danvers, and the ability of the author to brings this world to life and to do so with a firm, delicate, mesmerising hand.

I highly recommend it, but I will leave you with a quote from the opening page in a dream like description of Manderlay and the drive - "Nature has come into her own again and, little by little, in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached upon the drive with long, tenacious fingers. The woods, always a menace even in the past, had triumphed in the end. They crowded, dark and uncontrolled, to the borders of the drive. The beeches with white, naked limbs leant close to one another, their branches intermingled in a strange embrace..."

Happy New Year 2014

2013 has been an amazing year for me, both personally and within the whole writing journey. I hope I learned a lot during the last 12 months. I know I laughed and cried a lot, found joy in the most surprising places, reaffirmed the wonder of family, and having people in your life to love and to give love back in return. I've worried and I've thought too long and hard about certain things, gotten myself stressed, even panicked, but usually, thankfully, I've ended up with some semblance of sense, realizing that every moment, hour, and day, is a gift in this once in a lifetime opportunity of living.
I hope 2014 is a good one for you all, and on the stroke of midnight wherever you are, that all the new beginnings you are wishing for are there for the taking. Have a good one folks.
xxx Louise 

Doolin Short Story Competition

The Doolin Writers' Weekend takes place this year at Hotel Doolin from the 28th-30th March 2014


Hotel Doolin in association with The Irish Writers’ Centre is delighted to announce the launch of the DOOLIN SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2014. There is a prize fund of €1,000 for first place and second/third of €600/€400. Entries can be on any theme and should be no longer than 3,000 words. The fee is €10 and closing date for entries is Monday 3rd March at 5pm. Winners will be announced at the Doolin Writer’s Weekend on28th – 30th March 2013.
Anthony Glavin is this year’s judge. Editor of “New Irish Writing” in the Irish Press from 1986-88, and a commissioning editor with New Island Books from 1994-2004, Anthony Glavin has published two story collections, One for Sorrow and The Draughtsman and The Unicorn. His stories have also appeared in many Irish, UK and US anthologies, including Phoenix Irish Short Stories, Best Irish Short Stories, Short Story International, New Dubliners: Stories to Celebrate 100 Years of Joyce’s Dubliners, The Faber Book of Irish Short Stories 2006/7, and New Irish Short Stories (Faber, 2011). He is also the author of a critically acclaimed novel,Nighthawk Alley.Following on from the success of the inaugural Doolin Writers’ Weekend, The 2nd Annual Doolin Writers weekend will take place on the weekend of the 28th-30th March 2014. The weekend will consist of workshops in short story writing, poetry and novel writing, lectures and readings by some of Ireland’s leading writers, as well as some great traditional music and theatre It is a great opportunity for aspiring writers as well as literary fans & published authors to get together and celebrate everything that is good about Irish Literature. Many artists and writers spent time in Doolin, including J.M. Synge, George Bernard Shaw, Dylan Thomas, Augustus John and Oliver St. John Gogarty. This spring we look forward to welcoming back some of Ireland’s best writers for what we hope will become an annual literary event in North Clare.The winning entries will feature on the Irish Writers’ website and the story placed first will also appear in print in The winning entries will feature on the Irish Writers’ website and the story placed first will also appear in print in The Clare People.For further details, to download an entry form or to enter online visit:
www.hoteldoolin.ieDoolin Writers Weekend ENTRY FORM available  here
If you have any queries, please contact:
Donal Minihane
Hotel Doolin
Doolin Co. Clare
065-70741111
dminihane@hoteldoolin.ie

It's not all bad news!

Believe it or not, I'm down with the flu again. By that I mean I was on the mend, then things took a nosedive. Hubby is now sick too, so we're coughing and spluttering and generally sharing our germs the same way we share most things in life, wholeheartedly!

But it is not all bad news. Firstly, I'm back to the writing and I'm beginning to get that sense that the fictional world is becoming real. This is a very good thing, because if it's not real for the writer, it sure as hell won't be real for the reader. The second bit of good news is that my sick hubby finally read The Doll's House! Yes, I know that it has taken him a while, but he's been mad busy with work, and in fairness hasn't been reading at all. It was a funny thing, me on one side of the couch coughing and writing, and him on the other side of the couch reading my novel.

The really good news is that he loved it, and said it reminded him that he missed reading so very much. You need to understand that whereas my hubby is wonderful, he doesn't get gushy with lots of words of praise, he simply say it as it is, and for him to say that he felt the book had him gripped, and he was sorry it was over, and could I please hurry up with the next one, was kind of mega great.

Thankfully we have plenty of books for him to devour in the interim, so I'm sure he'll have much to enjoy.

Have a wonderful New Year folks.....