Editor's corner

I'm not writing a lot of new stuff at the moment. The pile of first drafts has now become ridiculous, which I guess is a good thing, so I have to focus on that. Also, I've had the flu and my brain is still a little scrambled.

I've got one of my five short stories into something approaching a first draft. Not quite sure what to do with it though. The other four stories are all calling out to me, begging for attention.

Also had a read through the movie script I wrote back in September. It reads like something that was written in a week without any kind of plan, which is exactly what it is. Still, I reckon I have a rough skeleton of a story, two credible characters and at least three excellent lines of dialogue (don't ask how many terrible lines there are). Plan is still to break it up into two separate scripts and edit each one as a complete story. Having read through again, I'm now confident this is the right approach.

Also had one creative idea today concerning the 60-minute TV pilot for BBC, a completely different angle for the story which would make it really fun and interesting. We're going to wait until the BBC announce competition results (December 14th) before doing anything, but I'm still really confident that it's a strong idea and that we'll be able to do something with it. Watch this space.

Babies

And so, "Cot" staggers into the world, battered and exhausted. I've never worked so hard on a short piece. I am very, very proud of it. And without wishing to sound like a broken record, it would have been impossible without the assistance of the On The Premises guys who seriously deserve some kind of award, or at least to have a really nice sandwich named after them. I'll allow them to introduce the story:

One contestant sent an entry that had serious flaws, but a story idea that blew our minds. After the winners had been chosen we contacted this author and asked if he'd mind being an unpaid guest writer, on the condition that he rewrite the story and fix the flaws. He agreed, and so...

GUEST WRITER: "Cot" by Bernard O'Leary

Time spent #3

Last but not least! Stuff has appeared in print!

There's a poem in the new edition of First Edition! Hooray! Enjoy it while it's there, because it'll probably be a very long time before I write poetry again. Not available online, sadly, but you can buy the magazine if you're really keen.

"Sit, Stand, Kneel" appears in Southpaw issue 3! Hooray! This is available online, so do have a read and read the other stories too because they're ace.

"Don't Let Go" has been accepted by Read This Magazine for issue 20, but no idea when that's appearing. Still, they're very cool and Edinburgh-based like myself, so they're worth an exclamation mark. Hooray!

Time spent #2

So the On The Premises thing. Another competition I had hoped to win, but knew my submission was a bit rough.

OTP emailed back with quite an unexpected response. Basically they loved the story, but felt it contained a number of fatal flaws. They couldn’t enter it into the competition, but offered to help me work on it and said that they would run me as a “Guest Writer” in the next issue.
Which was a blessing and a curse. I knew that ‘Cot’ was imperfect. I really wanted to fix it, because I felt it was too strong an idea to let slide. But I also knew that I had no time, not a single second, to spare. So I did what I always do in these situations.

I said yes and decided to worry about the logistics later.

It was a nightmare, but I did finally manage to produce a new draft, with a huge amount of help from the OTP guys. It’ll be appearing in the next issue sometime next week. I’m very happy about this.

By the way, if you’re like me and you’re just starting out on a writing career, please look at On The Premises. There is no other publication on earth that offers the kind of support and feedback that they give. The fact that they occasionally pay is just the cherry on the cupcake.

Time spent #1

I’ve been quiet over the last month, which might indicate that I haven’t been doing much writing, but OH MY GOD is that the opposite of the truth.

My fingers are down to bloody stumps, I’ve barely slept and my coffee intake will probably result in a huge rise in the GDP of Kenya. The main thing is this script. At the time of my last post, my writing partner and I had a rough concept and sketches for a couple of characters. A week later, we went and did some actual research. After that, we pulled out all the stops, working 4-5 hours a night on the thing. There were several distractions: I had to sit a big exam, my erstwhile partner went swanning off to Manchester to be nominated for a big literary prize, and I went back to Ireland to see my mum.

3 weeks later, we had finished the fourth draft of the script just in time to DHL it down to the BBC in London. Yes, London, for a competition being run in Scotland. Also, BBC, what on earth is wrong with email? Oh, only kidding Auntie Beeb (please hire me).

Will we win? Hard to say. There’s definite potential and we’re going to keep working on it, win or lose. The version we sent away has some rough edges that would have been smoothed out if we just had a little more time. Still, you have to be in it to win it, and we are definitely in it.

Nobody but the baby

So, the infamous Russian baby lady story has been finished and put out to market. It's now called simply "Cot" because the original title ("The Oubliette") sounded a bit stupid in context.

I'm not 100% happy with the final version. I think the pacing is a bit shot and the language is too flat in places. I would have liked to have spent a bit more time with it, but I really wanted to get it in for the next On The Premises competition, which closes tonight. Oh well, we shall see.

It would really mean an awful lot to me to win one of the OTP competitions, for the record. It's a great site with some really exciting fiction. If you're reading this and you're an emerging writer, please please please keep an eye for their next competition. You won't regret it.

How do you like me?

More success! I'm really happy to be able to say that hyper-trendy new literary journal Southpaw has picked up my story "Sit, Stand, Kneel". Very pleased with this. Southpaw, like On The Premises, is a small publication which I stumbled across and instantly wanted to be a part of, just because I really like what they're doing.

Southpaw issue 3 will be out at the end of October, and will be my first ever piece of fiction to appear in old fashioned ink and paper. Happy.