Nuala Ní Chonchúir's Blog, page 21

ANN PATCHETT ON WRITING NOVELS

Ann Patchett by Heidi RossOh dear - this is so true:

'When I can’t think of another stall, when putting it off has actually become more painful than doing it, I reach up and pluck the butterfly from the air. I take it from the region of my head and I press it down against my desk, and there, with my own hand, I kill it. It’s not that I want to kill it, but it’s the only way I can get something that is so three-dimensional onto the flat page. Just to make sure the job is done I stick it into place with a pin. Imagine running over a butterfly with an SUV. Everything that was beautiful about this living thing – all the color, the light and movement – is gone. What I’m left with is the dry husk of my friend, the broken body chipped, dismantled, and poorly reassembled. Dead. That’s my book.' Ann Patchett

And the more 'hopeful' bit:

'The journey from the head to hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write – and many of the people who do write – get lost... Only a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words.'

More here at Brain Pickings.

LISTOWEL WRITERS' WEEK INTERVIEW

The good people at Writers' Week in Listowel have interviewed me ahead of my appearance at the festival and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, later this month. Here.

MISS EMILY BOOK TOUR SHAPING UP

I just learned the book tour for my next novel MISS EMILY will kick off in the beautifully named town of Mystic, Connecticut. At Bank Square Books. I am bursting a gut with excitement! Road trip - wheee!

I have also heard (and OKed) the actresses for the audio book which will appear from Blackwell's in July. It is so, so cool to hear the words read out in beautiful, competent, convincing voices. Bizarre and amazing.

MSLEXIA NOVEL COMP

The Mslexia Women’s Novel Competition is back. They are looking for novels of at least 50,000 words written for adults (and young adults) in any genre by previously unpublished women novelists.
 
The first prize is £5,000, and the judging panel is made up of novelist Marina Lewycka, literary agent Juliet Mushens and Books Editor at BBC Radio & Music Di Speirs.
 
Mslexia has joined forces with The Literary Consultancy, who will provide free professional feedback for the winner and four other finalists – they will also be invited to meet literary agents and editors at a special networking event in London.
 
The competition closes 21st September.
 
Click here for full competition details.

SECOND BOOK SYNDROME AT THE IWC / ILFD

This looks like an interesting event at the IWC, for those in need of it:

Date: Thursday 21 MayTime: 7.30pmVenue: Irish Writers Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1Fee:  €10 / €8 | Bookings via EventbriteThe book industry loves a début novelist; the thrill in finding that fresh new voice. But what happens when the sheen of first fiction wears off and the pressure is on to draft a novel to rival, or even better, the first?Broadcaster Pat Kenny talks to Kathleen MacMahon, Liz McManus and Donal Ryan about the challenges of publishing that second manuscript. Kathleen MacMahon’s second novel, her follow-up to This is How it Ends is being released this summer; 23 years have passed between Liz McManus’ first and second novels; and award-winning author Donal Ryan infamously had his second manuscript published ahead of his first. Interesting anecdotes are sure to be uncovered at this not-to-be-missed event as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin. 

RETREAT NEEDED IN JUNE & ULLAPOOL APPEARANCE

I had a whole post written about Cúirt - quite a personal one - but my computer acted the maggot and needed restarting, and I lost the post despite saving it in a document - wtf? I haven't the heart, energy, head-space or patience to re-write it. Let it suffice to say, I enjoyed the few events I attended. Highlight: Evie Wyld and Jenny Offill in conversation with the always-wonderful Sinéad Gleeson.

Sinéad, Evie, JennyI am coming to the end of writing novel #4. Nine months for a first draft on this one. (But I will NOT refer to it as a gestation or the book as a baby - that kind of talk is a pet hate. Giving birth and raising kids is WAY harder than writing books, in my experience.)

It feels good to be at this point - the part where I feel I can breathe again. I will now walk away from the novel for a few weeks then come back and try to make sense of it and knock it into a shape good enough to show my agent. I tried to get a spot in Annaghmakerrig to go over it but they are full. Sigh. Does anyone know of a place I could retreat to for a few days in June (not too expensive and in Ireland, north or south) to work on this?

The Ceilidh Place, UllapoolNext week I go to Ullapool to read at their book festival - it's the setting, in the Scottish Highlands, for my last novel The Closet of Savage Mementos. I worked there in a gorgeous hotel called The Ceilidh Place twenty-three years ago and my novel is loosely based on that time. Another ex-Placer, Linda Cracknell, is also on the festival bill. The Stornoway Gazette has done a wee feature on the pair of us. The article is here.

Zoë Strachan will be chairing my event at the festival and I am reading her latest novel Ever Fallen in Love in advance - it is set north of Ullapool, coincidentally, and I am very much enjoying it. In another coincidence, it is published by Sandstone Press who will publish the UK version of Miss Emily in August. It's all good.

REVIEW OF WALLFLOWERS - ELIZA ROBERTSON

My review of Eliza Robertson's wonderful début short story collection Wallflowers is now online on the Stinging Fly magazine's website. Here.

STINGING FLY WORKSHOP DEADLINE APPROACHES

The deadline for applications for The Stinging Fly magazine's June summer fiction workshop is this Thursday, April 23rd at 5pm.

Taking place in June, this will be a week-long intensive daytime workshop, designed for writers of short stories and/or the novel. The course will be led by Sean O'Reilly.

During the workshop, each writer’s work will be up for in-depth discussion twice. All the work will have been shared and closely read in advance. Also included in the structure of the course are three sessions on aspects of narrative prose by guest speakers, including the editors of The Stinging Fly. 

Up to ten writers will be offered a place based on the work they’ve submitted (via email) by the application deadline (Thursday, April 23rd).

The summer fiction workshop is offered in association with the Irish Writers' Centre and is supported by Words Ireland.

Dates of workshop: June 22nd - June 26th 2015

Times: Monday to Friday, 10.15am-4.30pm

Venue: Irish Writers Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1

Cost: €325 (or €300 for IWC members)

How to apply:

The short story should not exceed 6000 words and the novel extract should not exceed 15 pages.

Email the story or extract to stingingfly@gmail.com with Summer Fiction Workshop along with your name in the subject heading.

They will accept either Word.doc or Word.docx files.

Read the full guidelines on the website before applying!
More info

ENSFR reading at the IWC

I am delighted to be reading a short story at the European Network for Short Fiction Research conference which takes place in TCD and UCD this Friday and Saturday, 17th and 18th April. The reading is on Friday the 17th from 7pm - 9pm at the Irish Writers' Centre.
Tickets: €5, available from Eventbrite.
Chaired by Philip Coleman, the readings and discussion will focus on Reading Short Fiction in Transnational Contexts, with guests:
- Evelyn Conlon - Ailsa Cox- Dave Lordan- Tom Morris                                                                                - Nuala Ní Chonchúir- Mary O’Donnell

Doors open from 6.30pm, event starts at 7pm.

PENGUIN BOOKSELLER DINNERS, USA

Sign inside a shop on 5thI am slowly getting back to 'normal' after my trip to the States for bookseller dinners, organised by Penguin USA. Basically, I was flown over to meet with booksellers at meals in lovely restaurants. You couldn't say no to that! The dinners took place in Greenwich, Connecticut, and in Boston, Mass.

I stayed in New York for two nights and Boston for one so, while it was a tad hectic, it was enormously enjoyable and just what I needed after a recent low. All of the booksellers and the sales people from Penguin have read ARCs of the novel so we were able to talk in-depth about various aspects of the story, the writing of the book, our mutual hopes for its success etc.
The Empire Hotel - that statue behind the clock is DanteIn NY I stayed in the Empire Hotel on W 63rd and, moments after I arrived I saw the lovely Iris Apfel in the bar next door, a branch of the famous P.J. Clarke's. What a legend - I had literally just pinned her picture to my Great Women board.
Super Grover - my companion on trips I take alone - with 8th Ave and Broadway, from the hotel Libby, self, Kathleen and Kelly at l'Escale, Greenwich Tara, my editor, and me (tired)The restaurant in Greenwich (about an hour from Manhattan) was called l'Escale and it served French cuisine and was on the harbour. Absolutely beautiful. My editor at Penguin, Tara Singh-Carlson was with us and it was so great to see her again and catch up. We took an end-of-the-night selfie and 'jet lag' is written all over my face.

Prada men with Prada women - 5th Avenue Reflections on 57th Street Bronze woman in Columbus CircleI had some time in Manhattan to walk about, during the day. I had an urgent message to get at Build-a-Bear (bunny shoes) but, apart from that, I was free to wander, take the subway and soak it all in. I also managed lunch with my lovely agent, Gráinne Fox. We went to The Odeon in Tribeca - notorious for a cocaine-filled scene in Jay McInerney's novel Bright Lights, Big City. G and I made plans and had a giggle, and I ate the most divine chocolate mousse cake ever.

Columbus atop his plinth Yapping in l'Escale (or maybe actually listening!)I took the train from New York to Boston - what a treat! I'm not a huge fan of flying at the best of times (I get sick of airport shenanigans and cheek-to-cheek contact with strangers) so to rock up at Penn Station and step onto the train was dreamy. And the views en route were fabulous.

NY to Boston train view NY to Boston view NY to Boston train view Seriously appropriate marmo at my Boston hotel, the LoewsKarl Krueger, New England sales rep for Penguin, met me at my Boston hotel and accompanied me around the corner to Mistral, the gorgeous restaurant where we ate that night, in fine company. Once again I signed copies of Miss Emily and had convos about the book. Chris Rose of The Andover Bookstore was particularly sweet about the novel - he normally reads non-fic so I love that he enjoyed the story and the prose.

Signing copies of Miss Emily at Mistral, Boston - John Hugo to my right, Tova to my leftI also had a chance to catch some of the sights around Back Bay, where my hotel was. I'd only ever been to Cambridge before so it was good to get a taster of Boston itself.
The library in Boston. Wow. Trinity Church, Boston I got lost looking for a book shop but found Poe and the raven '... never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting'!! The People's Park at Boston Common where Emily Dickinson once walked I felt a little like this Back Bay lady (though not as slim, ahem...) after my busy few days... ...but I was as happy as Super Grover always is too. It was a fantastic trip!
All thanks to the team and to the booksellers for coming out to meet me.