Joint Editor – Breaking the Skin 2002

October 12, 2010

Breaking the Skin is an anthology of 21st century new Irish Writing, both prose and poetry. In editing the English language section of the double-volume anthology John ‘discovered’ Brian Kennedy, international singer, songwriter, composer, now author of two ‘Fergal Flynn’ novels. And Sam Millar author of a memoir, On the Brinks, and the ‘Karl Kane’ [...]

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The Tax Man Cometh

October 12, 2010

THE TAX MAN AND WRITERS – You have been writing for years and, suddenly, you make serious money from an article in a national newspaper or that definitive novel you always promised yourself you would write. Dream time, you say, but it happens, and all of a sudden you have a tax problem. What do [...]

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Elements Of A Story

October 12, 2010

Lets take the basics for granted: You write fluently with a good command of English. You are writing about a subject you know about or can at least empathize with. The story has a strong narrative thread with a logical chain of events. There is an emotional crisis to be dealt with. Everything is crafted [...]

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Travel Writing

October 12, 2010

Not everybody can be a professional travel writer, but writing about your travels allows you to recapture the essence of the town / country / region in a later article or story. It puts the dust back in your nose and the grit under your toes. But remember: Travel writing has to be entertaining, interesting [...]

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Write What You Think You Are Writing

October 12, 2010

You’ve written this wonderful (no question about it) piece of work. It’s the greatest thing since tea leaves were invented. The more you read it the more you admire your own genius. Then the little doubt starts. Now is the time to step back from the work itself, to close the book, the page, the [...]

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Writing Life Into Your Characters

October 12, 2010

At times we get so busy telling our story – A went to B, met C, D happened and so on and so on – that we forget the most important part of writing. Making the participants bounce of the page, become people in their own right. Characters. So how do you go about it? [...]

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Irish Publishing Industry

October 12, 2010

The last gentleman of publishing was John Murray of the publishing house of the same name. John Murray conducted his business from a comfortable armchair beside a coal fire. Quite often, in the matching armchair on the other side of the fire, sat his old friend, Prince Philip. John Murray is long gone, and now [...]

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