Author Interview With Sean O'Leary
[image error] Name or pseudonym: Sean O’Leary
What genre/s do you write in, and why? Crime and literary fiction, mostly. I have published a few sci-fi/spec-fic short stories but never a novella or longer. I started out writing literary crime stories that were a little dark or had an edge. I always read crime novels so it seemed natural to write some crime short stories.
I got a deal to publish a short story collection but the publisher specialized in sci-fi so asked me to write a few sci-fi stories to add to the crime/literary mix. It was heaps of fun and I got to work with sci-fi writer Simon Petrie who edited the collection and helped me enormously.
I have been fortunate to publish crime and literary short story collections, novellas and novels but I haven’t written a sci-fi or spec fic longer piece, yet but I love Haruki Murakami and Kazuo Ishiguro so I’ll try and write a spec-fic novella or longer one day.
When did you begin writing, and was it something you’ve always wanted to do? I remember I was about twenty-two (I am fifty-nine now) and living in a share house in Melbourne. I wrote a few short stories but never showed anyone, however, I didn’t first submit anything until I was around forty-four or forty-five. My first story was in a NZ magazine called Bravado.
What type of research goes into your writing? I don’t go to the State Library and go through the microfiche or anything and I’m not knocking that, I may well do it one day. Some hardcore research that is. But I’m a panster not a planner in my writing. I use Google and other search engines. Got o the library to get certain books or access them online. But mostly I read and watch films and TV series. There’s so much inspiration and knowledge to gain that way.
How do you develop your characters, plot, and setting? Oh well, I just mentioned I’m a panster but I read a lot. If I want to write a thriller or a pulp novel then I read a lot of them and from the top guys too. I have one ‘self help’ book and that is Writing Fiction; By Gary Disher. He’s a topnotch crime writer and the book is a gold mine. Plus, I look at films and how the plot is worked out and character development the same thing. Yeah, the Disher book and watching and reading. Films are great. I mean they put a whole life or story into one-and-half hours. Ninety pages if you like. There’s a lot to learn there.
What is your creative process (i.e. inspiration, where do you write)? I think I covered inspiration re reading and watching films etc. But real life too. Not so much anymore but I listen and watch. More snapshots than whole characters. If I hear a funny snippet or horrible take down. Something like that and then I change it anyway to fit it in with what I’m writing.
I write in bed, at my desk, on the couch, out walking I take notes. A couple of hours walking I can write a whole story in my head sometimes.
Have you ever dealt with writer’s block? If so, how do you find your creative flow again? Once I started writing I never had writer’s block. Sometimes I stop for a week to watch a test match or similar and find it slightly hard to get back in the groove but nothing to worry about.
Are you self-published or traditionally published? I self-published my crime novella ‘The Heat’ but my other books (six and another next year) are traditionally published and I think I’ve had about forty or more short stories in magazines both online and in print.
Can you give us your experience in either or both of these types of publishing? Self-publishing ‘The Heat’ was cool. A lot of fun. I used one of my own photos of Bangkok for the cover and had it pro edited and the layout done by Busybird, who are a cool publisher who do this kind of thing but also run novella competitions and short story competitions with cash prizes and publications. I like the way they give back in this way.
The other books were traditionally published by I guess wat you call small press although my latest crime book is with ‘Next Chapter’ who are bigger, more mainstream, with a marketing team and so on. I had an audio book done for the first time for ‘Going All the Way’ my crime thriller, it was a lot of fun.
Small press are cool though.
Do you market your own books? If so, how easy or difficult is this for an author? I’ll do whatever the publisher tells me to do. It’s not my field of expertise. I’ll take advice from all over.
What advice would you give other writers/authors about receiving negative reviews? Zero.
What advice would you give to wanna-be writers who are trying to get a book published? Just never give up and don’t dismiss small press, there’s a lot of highly creative, highly professionally people working in this area.
If you had a chance to meet one of your favorite authors, alive or dead, who would it be? And what questions would you ask? I think Graeme Greene. He did novels and then what he called entertainment but he wrote an absolute shit load of books and said he only wrote 500 words a day. And The Quiet American and Brighton Rock etc and killer books and I might ask about character more than plot. He has great characters.
List your book links and where we can find them to purchase? I have link tree here: linktr.ee/Seanoleary
Thank you for chatting with us today at RWS, we appreciate your time. Thank you for the opportunity, it was cool. [image error]
What genre/s do you write in, and why? Crime and literary fiction, mostly. I have published a few sci-fi/spec-fic short stories but never a novella or longer. I started out writing literary crime stories that were a little dark or had an edge. I always read crime novels so it seemed natural to write some crime short stories.
I got a deal to publish a short story collection but the publisher specialized in sci-fi so asked me to write a few sci-fi stories to add to the crime/literary mix. It was heaps of fun and I got to work with sci-fi writer Simon Petrie who edited the collection and helped me enormously.
I have been fortunate to publish crime and literary short story collections, novellas and novels but I haven’t written a sci-fi or spec fic longer piece, yet but I love Haruki Murakami and Kazuo Ishiguro so I’ll try and write a spec-fic novella or longer one day.
When did you begin writing, and was it something you’ve always wanted to do? I remember I was about twenty-two (I am fifty-nine now) and living in a share house in Melbourne. I wrote a few short stories but never showed anyone, however, I didn’t first submit anything until I was around forty-four or forty-five. My first story was in a NZ magazine called Bravado.
What type of research goes into your writing? I don’t go to the State Library and go through the microfiche or anything and I’m not knocking that, I may well do it one day. Some hardcore research that is. But I’m a panster not a planner in my writing. I use Google and other search engines. Got o the library to get certain books or access them online. But mostly I read and watch films and TV series. There’s so much inspiration and knowledge to gain that way.
How do you develop your characters, plot, and setting? Oh well, I just mentioned I’m a panster but I read a lot. If I want to write a thriller or a pulp novel then I read a lot of them and from the top guys too. I have one ‘self help’ book and that is Writing Fiction; By Gary Disher. He’s a topnotch crime writer and the book is a gold mine. Plus, I look at films and how the plot is worked out and character development the same thing. Yeah, the Disher book and watching and reading. Films are great. I mean they put a whole life or story into one-and-half hours. Ninety pages if you like. There’s a lot to learn there.
What is your creative process (i.e. inspiration, where do you write)? I think I covered inspiration re reading and watching films etc. But real life too. Not so much anymore but I listen and watch. More snapshots than whole characters. If I hear a funny snippet or horrible take down. Something like that and then I change it anyway to fit it in with what I’m writing.
I write in bed, at my desk, on the couch, out walking I take notes. A couple of hours walking I can write a whole story in my head sometimes.
Have you ever dealt with writer’s block? If so, how do you find your creative flow again? Once I started writing I never had writer’s block. Sometimes I stop for a week to watch a test match or similar and find it slightly hard to get back in the groove but nothing to worry about.
Are you self-published or traditionally published? I self-published my crime novella ‘The Heat’ but my other books (six and another next year) are traditionally published and I think I’ve had about forty or more short stories in magazines both online and in print.
Can you give us your experience in either or both of these types of publishing? Self-publishing ‘The Heat’ was cool. A lot of fun. I used one of my own photos of Bangkok for the cover and had it pro edited and the layout done by Busybird, who are a cool publisher who do this kind of thing but also run novella competitions and short story competitions with cash prizes and publications. I like the way they give back in this way.
The other books were traditionally published by I guess wat you call small press although my latest crime book is with ‘Next Chapter’ who are bigger, more mainstream, with a marketing team and so on. I had an audio book done for the first time for ‘Going All the Way’ my crime thriller, it was a lot of fun.
Small press are cool though.
Do you market your own books? If so, how easy or difficult is this for an author? I’ll do whatever the publisher tells me to do. It’s not my field of expertise. I’ll take advice from all over.
What advice would you give other writers/authors about receiving negative reviews? Zero.
What advice would you give to wanna-be writers who are trying to get a book published? Just never give up and don’t dismiss small press, there’s a lot of highly creative, highly professionally people working in this area.
If you had a chance to meet one of your favorite authors, alive or dead, who would it be? And what questions would you ask? I think Graeme Greene. He did novels and then what he called entertainment but he wrote an absolute shit load of books and said he only wrote 500 words a day. And The Quiet American and Brighton Rock etc and killer books and I might ask about character more than plot. He has great characters.
List your book links and where we can find them to purchase? I have link tree here: linktr.ee/Seanoleary
Thank you for chatting with us today at RWS, we appreciate your time. Thank you for the opportunity, it was cool. [image error]
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