Louise Phillips's Blog, page 80

The Herbalist - Review

'He just appeared one morning and set up shop in the market square. It was drizzling. Everything was either a shade of brown or a shade of grey. He was the lightest thing there, the one they called the black doctor. He wore a pale suit, a straw hat and waved his arms like a conductor. The men spat about dark crafts and foreign notions but the women loved him. Oh, the rubs, potions, tinctures and lotions he had, unguents even. I went to the market the first chance I got, to see past the headscarves, but all I got was a glimpse of a bottle held high, and the gold-ringed fingers that gripped it. The women crowded around his stall. God, but they’d no sense at all, clucking like hens. ‘One at a time, ladies, one at a time.’’
Set in 1930’s Ireland, an Indian man, the herbalist, appears out of nowhere and sets out his stall in the market square, he brings excitement to Emily's dull midlands town. The teenager is captivated - the glamorous visitor could be a Clark Gable to her Jean Harlow, a Fred to her Ginger, a man to make her forget her lowly status in this place where respectability is everything.
However, Emily has competition for the herbalist's attentions. The women of the town - the women from the big houses and their maids, the shopkeepers and their serving girls, those of easy virtue and their pious sisters - all seem mesmerised by this visitor who, they say, can perform miracles.
But when Emily discovers the dark side of the man who has infatuated her all summer, once again her world turns upside down. She may be a dreamer, but she has a fierce sense of right and wrong. And with the herbalist's fate lying in her hands she must make the biggest decision of her young life.
THE HERBALIST is a riveting story that electrifies and dazzles with wonderful imagery, exposing the shadowy side of Irish life - the snobbery, the fear of sex, the tragedy of women destroyed by social convention and the bravery of those who defied it, but it is even more than that. Featuring a strong cast of characters, including a prostitute, and a woman desperate for a child, this novel is both dark and utterly enchanting. Somewhat like how the herbalist casts his spells on the villagers, Boyce does the same for the reader. You will be completely drawn in, and not only by the secret remedies of the exotic stranger, but by the magical realism within this captivating read.
I fool you not, this novel moved me greatly. The characters are of the stature that will stay with you long after you finish the final page. And just in case some of you out there haven’t yet heard of Niamh Boyce, I can tell you, she won the 2012 Hennessy New Writing Award, as well as being shortlisted for the 2011 Francis McManus Short Story competition, the 2010 Hennessy Literary Awards, the 2010 Molly Keane Award and the 2010 WOW Award.
Dermot Bolger has described the novel as ‘A richly layered and finely realised evocation of the closed world of a vanished Ireland, encompassing its innocent insularity and its hidden corners where sexuality and respectability collide. Niamh Boyce's compelling female characters push against the rigid social parameters of 1930s Ireland, yearning for the light of the outside world, which comes in the shape of a stranger trading in herbs, cures, complications and danger.’
To me there are three elements which stand out about The Herbalist, the power of the magical realism in this story, the strength of the characters, and the ultimate beauty of the prose. Boyce captures both warmth and darkness with a tale that is rich and thought provoking. The characters in Boyce’s novel are fascinating, real, and wholly engaging. And if you’re like me and happen to have a best book shelf, you’ll place The Herbalist on it.
P.S. I'll be interview Niamh as part of her blog tour on the 4th July, so watch this space!!!

RTE Guide/Penguin Short Story Competition - Closing date 5th July 2013

Rules:
All entries for the 2013 RTE Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition should be original, unpublished and previously not broadcast short stories in English of 2,000 words or less. Manuscripts must be typed and cannot be returned. Entrants’ name and contact details (address, phone and/or email) should be on a separate page. The closing date is 6pm on Wednesday July 5th. Entries are welcome from anywhere in the world.

Send your entries to : RTE Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition, PO Box 1480, RTE, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 or you can email rteguide@rte.ie

Do you need help Editing? - This might be for you!

So I had three lovely weeks holidays in the Canaries. I came home to grass up to my knees, laundry baskets bulging, a house minded by my son (don't even go there), unpacked suitcase with dirty washing that won't see the laundry baskets for some time, a 'To Do' list as long as your arm, and no food in the house. Nothing unusual there!!

Anyhow, I've lots of lovely news for you all, but you'll have to wait a little while longer. I can tell you that RED RIBBONS is doing well, and that it's been spotted on sale at a flea market in Spain - I kid you not, International acclaim here I come!!!!

But just to get you all back in the mood, and yes, I know you missed me, and I certainly missed you - (addicted to social media? who said that?) here's a great piece on editing from Derbhile Graham, Author of The Pink Cage. You can find out more about Derbhile here at www.writewordseditorial.ie/



How to Edit Your Own Writing
You’ve finished the first draft of your story. You’re exhausted, but exhilarated. Whoo hoo, you think. All the hard work is over. But it hasn’t. In fact, the fun has just begun. They say that all writing is rewriting. I’m going to take a liberty and say that after that frenzied first draft, all writing is editing. And it’s now that the editing process begins.
After the First Draft
Editing your own work is quite a challenge. You’re snowblind from all the words you’ve written; you’re too immersed in the world you’ve created to see straight. But at this delicate stage, you are the best person to edit your own work. Your ideas still need nurturing. If you turn it over to an editor after the first draft, the editor may unwittingly snip away some prize blooms along with the dead wood.
To clear away the snow blindness, step away from your work. Have a break. Have a Kit Kat. Watch trash television. After a while, you’ll feel an itch and you know it’s time to return to the work. Now you’ll be able to approach it with fresh eyes, almost as if a different person wrote it.
Large and Small Cuts
As you read the draft, the central thread of the story will become clearer to you. Now is the time to be ruthless. Anything that does not relate to that central thread needs to go. This culling process will help your central story shine through. It’ll be easier for readers to follow your thread, and you’re less likely to get bogged down in sub-plots.
When you’ve done that, take another short break, then read it out loud. You’ll be amazed at the amount of repetitions, clunky sentences and inconsistencies you’ll spot. Don’t lose heart – these are a natural part of the writing process. This is a good way to reduce your word count without cutting out too much of the story. You don’t have to kill as many of your darlings as you think.
Advanced Editing
Take a break again, and this time when you return to it, start at the end and read backwards. This breaks the attachment you’ve developed with your story. Read the last sentence, then the sentence before that and so on. Our eyes naturally correct what we read, but reading backwards helps you to separate the words and letters and weed out rogue typos.
A special word to those writers who tend to write a little too lean and end up with a word count that falls short. I feel your pain. At this stage, pinpoint the scenes that you skimped on because you were afraid you were writing too much, and start fleshing them out. Ideally you’ll have compiled notes about your characters, settings and plot, and you can incorporate those into parts of the story that are less well developed.

Now you’re ready for that second pair of eyes. Your writing will be robust enough to withstand critiquing and copy editing. If you’ve any questions about the editing process, drop me an email on derbhile@writewordseditorial.ie. 


*****
And here is another link from Novelicious about Structural Edits from Behind The Scenes at a Publishing House

The Doll's House Cover revealed at last!

Drum roll please for the cover of The Doll's House - don't all shout at once!!

Pics of the Week!

Window Display Lahinch



After a full week of RED RIBBONS in bookstores and supermarkets nationwide, it got to number 12 in the Mass Paperback Sales Market in Ireland. Not quite the Top Ten, but I'm a happy camper!!
I've also been thrilled to hear this week that many bookstores throughout the county are choosing it as their FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH, including Hodges Figgis in Kilkenny, Book Value in Killarney, and Barker and Jones in Naas. I also hear it's for sale in outlets of Spar, Centra, and the Post Office in Athboy!
Again special thanks to Easons for facilitating pictures with The Echo last week, and also to Dubray Books for choosing it as one of their Staff Recommended Reads :-) And because I know how much you love pics here are a few for you!!!

Dubray Books Stillorgan


Easons The Square with Trish Nugent

Tesco Rathfarnham



Book Value Killarney
Finally many congrats to Anne Casey, Sharon Wilden and Siobhan Maher, all winners of a FREE COPY of RED RIBBONS this week!

Time to Celebrate!!!

To celebrate the release of RED RIBBONS in the New Smaller Paperback, I'm giving away a Free Copy to 3 Lucky Winners!




All you have to do is watch this short trailer HERE and answer the following question:
What is hanging from the tree?
You can email me at phillips.louisem0@gmail.com, or anyone connected with me on Facebook or Linkedin, can send me message there, or else send me a DM @LouiseMPhillips on Twitter!!
Easy? I thought so!
The winners will be picked out of a hat, (yes, I actually have one!) on Monday by a trusted source. Yes, you guessed if, one of our children :-)

Tune In!

I'll be on the radio this evening talking RED RIBBONS, crime writing and all that jazz!
Tune into 97.3 FM or 97.6 FM for Artyfacts ARTS SHOW with the lovely Brenda Drumm of KFM
You can click HERE this evening to check in online!

Going Local!!

Big thanks to both Pauline and Pamela of Easons in The Square in Tallaght, for making Friday's book signing for THE ECHO so much fun!! 

RED RIBBONS is now in Tesco and Dunnes Stores Nationwide

I'll take billing beside Martina Cole any day!!!
In stores since yesterday, pick up a copy pleaseeeee.......

BURNING BRIGHT

After yesterday being a bit of a bad day, here is the perfect cure - A Guest Blog Post from Catherine Brophy :-)
Put the kettle on and enjoy!!!
I met Catherine Brophy as part of a writing retreat at Carousel Creates, and she certainly burned bright! Her new book looks exactly the kind of thing to lift any blues, and if any of you have harbored the idea of being a tortured artist, then have a read of 'Brow-Clutching' below!!!



A COMEDY ABOUT MONEY, FAME AND THE CELTIC TIGER
 The Celtic Tiger is in his prime and the Kerrigans are splashing the cash.  They have made it big time, so eat your heart out you small town snobs! But Daddy’s-girl Kirsty wants Celebrity and International Fame and devotes herself to pursuing this dream. Crashing Madonna’s Christmas party doesn't help, neither does causing a stir on Big Brother but when a video clip of Kirsty goes viral on You Tube, fame arrives with a bang. But Tracey O’Hagan, a blast from a shady patch in the Kerrigan past, has appeared on the scene. She’s mad. She’s bad. And she’s definitely dangerous to know. Set in the years of the Celtic Tiger, Burning Bright is told in the voices of Kerrigan family members and friends.   
It’s funny. It’s believable. And it will definitely make you laugh. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:   Catherine Brophy is a writer, story-teller and broadcaster.   She writes film, T.V. and radio scripts and she also writes short stories. Her previous novels are The Liberation of Margaret Mc Cabe and Dark Paradise.   She lives a blameless life in Ireland but escapes whenever she can.   She’s been rescued by a circus troupe in Serbia, had breakfast with a Zambian chief, ate camel stew in the Sahara, and was kicked by a horse on the Mexican plain.
AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZONKINDLE:  http://amzn.to/XLEATU   PAPERBACK:  http://amzn.to/XLE7B

BROW-CLUTCHING
We artistic types do love a good brow-clutch.   We love the idea of being, not just artists, but tortured artists.   And of course the summit of torture for every artist the Creative Block.
I recently saw a T.V programme about Louise Bourgeois - the artist who did the gigantic spider outside Tate Modern in London.  She lived her latter years in New York and, once a week, she held a salon for younger artists.   They showed her their work and she offered comment. 
“What is it about?” Louise asked an artist who showed her a painting“It’s about the pain of being an artist.” “Bullshit,” snapped Louise, “to be an artist is not a pain, it is a privilege!  Next!”I love that attitude. Perhaps that’s why she lived until she was 102 and kept creating new works until the end.  She never suffered creative blocks.
The truth is that no writer, painter sculptor or poet suffered creative blocks until the late 1700’s!   Before that artists were artisans, employed by the rich to provide entertainment, education or decoration.   They were no more important than the tailor or the cook.   Even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the musical genius, had to eat in the servants quarters.   No person of noble birth would demean themselves by hacking stone, daubing paint, composing a Sonata or scratching on vellum-except perhaps in a dilettante way as a hobby.
But, by the late 1700’s a wealthy middle class was emerging who were prepared to pay good money for the trimmings of nobility. Artists no longer had to depend on the patronage of a Prince, a Lord or a Bishop, they could sell their work on the open market.    Members of the upper classes began to take up artistic and scientific pursuits.   Gradually artistic ability became not just respectable but seen as something other, something extraordinary, something  granted by God to a few special people.  And artists, naturally, jumped on that bandwagon.
Artists began to feel special, more sensitive, more aware, more tender-hearted than the rest of lumpen humanity and that’s when they began to experience the Creative Block.  Think of it. I am a gifted, exquisitely sensitive being and my creativity is blocked by some malignant force…. Oh the horror!   The agony!  How can I ever survive in this desert?            Here’s how.   Creativity demands focus and attention therefore it is tiring - When you get stuck and no ideas are coming perhaps that’s nature’s way of saying:  Take a break.   Feed the dog.   Go visit your friends.  Watch X Factor. Go for a swim.   Dance.   If that doesn’t work then…Your greatest block is yourself - One thing that is certain is, every writer, painter, sculptor, actor, musician will come up against their own sore spots, those tender areas we’d all like to leave undisturbed.   Avoid them and your work will suffer or worse still you’ll get stuck and stay stuck.   So you need to find a way of helping yourself.  And that will be different for everyone, some people run, some play sports, some meditate, some practise martial arts, some work it out through their work, some get counselling.   Only you can decide what’s best for you.   So if you get badly stuck check your sore spots and apply the salve that works best.Inspiration is not always instant - Sometimes it is and that’s lovely but, more often than not, it emerges from the ordinary.  After you’ve taken a break and checked your sore spots go with the first idea that comes into your mind.   It may not be perfect.   You may think it’s lame.   It may not have the pizzaz that you want.  That doesn’t matter.   It’s a starting place and it will lead to the ideas you like.  So now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to feel artistic and sensitive and superior to the rest of lumpen humanity so I have to go clutch my brow and contemplate the pain of being an artist!