Advice and resources on writing short stories

Sometimes writing advice really hits at the right time, and you read something about writing process that seems so true. In the beginnings of starting to write, I found it difficult to appreciate much of the wisdom on process. With hindsight, I do believe that writing publishable work is something that is learned gradually through trial and error, and mostly through some success and much rejection (damn it!). Here are some resources providing advice on writing short stories that I've found useful.

Interviews with the marvellous William Trevor

If you are like me and enjoy the writings of William Trevor, this is for you. I'm always keen to read anything that this masterful writer has to say about his craft. He is up there as one of my favourites. Recently, I've come across two instances of interviews with him that I found really enjoyable, and not surprisingly, very insightful on writing process.

An interview with The Paris Review from a few years ago here 

Also, since his recent and well deserved award of the inaugral Charleston-Chichester Award for a Lifetime’s Excellence in Short Fiction, there is an exclusive audio interview with him available at Thresholds website here  

Respect Mr Trevor, respect.

North West Words in November - another great night planned

The last Thursday of the month means North West Words in Cafe Blend Letterkenny. And, there's another great line up this month. I'll be there.

 

The Letters Page - issue 2 out soon and a call for submissions for issue 3

The Garden Room Writers have a special interest in The Letters Page  edited by Jon McGregor and a team from The School of English in The University of Nottingham. Our own GRW Ann Hull had a letter in the first issue. What a lovely idea, hand written letters only. To look at issue 1 see here 

A Shelley Tracey Creative Writing Workshop in Co. Down

The Write to Belong: finding your place

in the family of things

Saturday 30^th November, 2013 10.00-4.30

The title of this creative writing workshop is based on the last lines of Mary Oliver’s poem, Wild Geese:

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

The Manchester Children's Book Festival...save the date!

A date for your diaries...the Manchester Children's Book Festival will take place from 26th June to 6th July 2014. The festival is held every two years and run by Carol Ann Duffy's team at the Manchester Writing School, Manchester Metropolitan University. The programme will be announced in January. I also just discovered the festival blog here. Apologies for the generous advanced warning, I realise we haven't even had Christmas 2013 yet, but would hate anyone to miss out on what I am sure will be a superb festival.

Man With A Movie Camera - an outdoor showing at Ebrington Barracks, Derry

Some things are just super cool, and you'll go and see even in the cold and damp Derry air. So, this Saturday I headed into the big smoke (North West style) to see a showing of Man With A Movie Camera as part of Cinema City.

Two new websites devoted to the short story in Ireland and the UK

I've come across two new websites recently that have just started up and are devoted to the short story. They have comment, resources, interviews, news etc... all around the wonderful form of short story.

Francis MacManus Short Story Competition 2014 open for submissions

Gee, I've entered this competition so many times! And no, I've never got anywhere in it. I'm not giving up though - try, try, try again. The shortlisted stories are all broadcast on RTE, so there are lots of opportunities from it. And podcasts of past winning and shortlisted stories are available  here  They're well worth listening to.

Rules for submission are available here (to enter you need to be born or resident in Ireland).  It seeks hardcopy posted submissions only with a strict word limit of 1,800 - 2,000 words. The deadline is 31st January 2014, and results are not published until June 2014, so it does take a long while before hearing any news.

National Short Story Week 11th - 17th 2013

This looks good, a national short story week designed to promote that lovely form. There's a website of resources here  a blog here  with tweets @ShortStoryWeek

At The Story Player here  you can even listen to a range of short stories online.

Cinema City in Derry throughout November

This film event is ongoing in Derry with film showings at Ebrington,  some of which are outdoors, and also at the Nerve Centre. A lot of the showings are free, but even those with an entrance fee are at a very good rate. There's lots of great film on, and other cinema related events, and it continues throughout the month. Programme available here   

Some upcoming deadlines in November and December

Wow, the winter seems to be here now in Donegal, heavy rain tonight. Wait a minute, don't we get that in summer too. I shouldn't complain really, we'd a great Donegal summer this year.

Well, to cheer ourselves up, what about a few approaching deadlines, and ideas for submitting over the rainy season (no snow, please!). Here are some upcoming submission dates.

My story Fallout is in Number Eleven

I'm very pleased to say that I've a story included in issue 3 of Number Eleven, an online literary journal. It's available here For further details of the journal see its Facebook site  and its website 

Number Eleven is edited by Graham Connors and publishes short story, flash, graphic novel artwork and illustraion, all quarterly. Submission details from the website here

Storytelling in Ramelton (8th - 10th November)

There's a very interesting looking storytelling festival upcoming soon in Ramelton, Co. Donegal (8th-10th November). The details are below, and there's a facebook page for updates here