IRISH AMERICAN POST – QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION

What are some of your inspirations for your plays and books? Are they of a biographical nature?

Of course my writing is autobiographical to some degree. I don’t think a writer can write without putting something of himself into his work, be it novels, plays, short stories or whatever. But I also think reading plays a big part; to write well I think you have to read well. By that I mean read the best writers, both contemporary and historical, and try and figure out how they did it.  I love Ernest Hemingway for example; I think he was the greatest writer of the 20^th century and have read everything he wrote – many times. I am always finding something new in his works. Ernest was a very conscientious writer; he wrote every morning for 4 or 5 hours without fail; he was also a very proud writer, and when he found his writing powers fading at the age of 60 he blew his brains out with a shotgun rather than carry on. That’s how much writing meant to him

When did you realize that you wanted to write as a profession?

I had always been a bit of a closet writer throughout my life, writing bits and pieces sporadically –  then discarding them as rubbish. It wasn’t until about 20 years ago that I decided to give it a proper go. I was in my mid forties then; I would write for a couple of hours every night after work in our attic – I floored it and made it into my writing den – and found that the discipline of regular writing improved my work tremendously.  I also maintained that it kept me out of the pub – it didn’t! – but the writing bug had got hold of me by now and I was putting time aside for it. Gradually the quality improved – I found that you have to write all the bad stuff before you get to the good stuff – and I eventually saw some of my material getting published or performed.

Did you go to university for writing or was it a self-taught discipline?Rye Harbour

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When I began writing – twenty five years ago now – one of the most touted pieces of advice was to keep a diary. I duly took note, and for the next few years diligently logged everything that took my fancy. It wasn’t very time consuming, maybe 25-20 mins every evening. However after a few years the novelty wore off and in time the diaries were completely forgotten, only re-surfacing recently when I was having a bit of a tidy-up. What did I deem worthy of inclusion in those far-off days?   The first entry is headed ‘Dreams Only In The Front’, and I recall being impressed with some woman writer  who suggested that dreams are the fount of all good writing, and  that we writers should keep a diary of all our dreams. Here is the first one I logged, dated 27/1/91;  I am travelling as a pillion passenger with the PM John Major on his motor bike. His jacket bothers me, the way it keeps flapping about as we move. He keeps losing me and has to keep coming back for me. We stop while he carries out some adjustments to the bike; he does some calculations with his pen on the wallpaper in the room we are in, then he signs his work ‘J Major PM was here’. We meet an old woman who asks me a profound question. I answer Mr Simpson. She thinks I said ‘Mrs Simpson’, which is the correct answer. She is impressed. Here is another one, dated 23/4/9; I am part of an audience watching a concert.We are being entertained by a black gymnast who is doing cartwheels across the stage. At the interval Alan Plater comes on stage to give a talk. He is loudly cheered by the writing fraternity- whom I vaguely know. Then he comes amongst us selling copies of his book ‘ANY OLD IRON’ for £5.99. Crazy stuff!

Flicking through at random here are some other entries; Funerals; the first thing O’Leary looked at was the deaths column in his daily paper. There was usually someone who had passed away in the vicinity, to whose funeral he could go to. Was he a professional mourner? 5/6/91 Watched the film Billy Liar again on TV. Even after all these years it was still fresh and hilariously funny. I felt the ending was a cop-out though; he should have been allowed to go off to London with Julie Christie. Otherwise all his dreams were for nothing. And one of the last ones; 20/7/97 Dicko. How can I describe him? Hilariously decadent. His stories take some beating; he has only one subject – SEX. How about Bridget the blow-up doll! I am definitely going to write a story about him -TRAVELS WITH BRIDGET!  (In fact I did write that story. Must see if I can find it again)

I must trawl through these diaries again. I am sure there is a book in them.

Happy writing!

don’t forget to visit my Amazon book page   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-OBrien/e/B0034OIGOQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1388083522&sr=1-2-ent

all are welcome. Please pass on to your friends

to see my books for sale visit my Amazon page;   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-OBrien/e/B0034OIGOQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1388083522&sr=1-2-ent

Time was when the bus shelter, bike shed or street corner was regarded as meeeting places for the youth of the time. Places where you could have a puff on an illicit ciggy, a quick fumble, or whatever turned your mojo on – away from the prying eyes of the ADULTS. Nowadays it’s all digital; the meeting places are more likely to be Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, WhatsApp etc – but not Facebook, which is now seen as the territory of the over 50’s. Technology, which in theory should have liberated teenagers, has instead trapped many. Their lives have become narrower and more transcribed; banned from many open spaces such as shopping malls, not allowed to ride on public transport unchaperoned, online public space is for many the only public space they have. Most of them are addicted to their phones and their computers, and this is where their friendship groups live. Online. Digital Friends. IN A DIGITAL WORLD.
Oh for a return to a less complicated,more innocent time!

I borrowed this piece from writer 9e Hammon’s blog. She says it a lot better than I ever could.

http://www.niniehammon.com/what-every-writer-must-tell-every-fan/#comment-33119

with my son Trevor on my birthday yesterday