Paul McVeigh A Question and Answer Session with a Short Story Writer

Event Resources  Everyone Is Invited to Join Us for Irish Short Story Month Year Four

Ways to Participate-do a post on your blog and let me know about it-I will keep a master list and I will publicize your post and blog.

If you are an Irish author and would like to be featured, please contact me.   There are several options open.

If you would like to do a guest post on my blog on anything related to Irish short stories, contact me

Bio of Paul McVeigh

Paul's specially commissioned short story for BBC Radio 4 will be aired on March 14th. He has upcoming fiction in The Stinging Fly literary journal which launched Kevin Barry, and Paul's interview with Kevin appeared in Two Third's North journal this month. He has been invited to read at the International Short Story Conference, in Vienna, in July, and they will publish a new short story of his in their anthology. 

Paul is curating the first London Short Story Festival in June, with authors like Jackie Kay, Adam Marek, Colin Barrett and Claire Keegan. He is also Deputy Editor of Word Factory literary salon which has had Lionel Shriver, Hanif Kureishi and upcoming AS Byatt. His Word Factory Apprentice Emerging Writer’s Scheme has just been launched with Stella Duffy and Alex Preston. 

Paul McVeigh is from Belfast and founded a theatre company there, writing and directed plays, one of which was nominated for a BBC Entertainment and Media Award. The company also won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival. He moved to London and wrote comedy for stand ups, writing shows that toured the comedy festival circuit and enjoyed runs at the Bloomsbury & Soho Theatres. He worked with the Hampstead and Tricycle Theatres and delivered projects at the British Library and the Barbican.

He has been published in anthologies, journals in the US and online. He has read his work at Word Factory in London, The Brighton Festival and at the National Flash Fiction Day event in Bristol. He won bursaries from New Writing South, The Literary Consultancy and Spread the Word. This novel has been short-listed for an unpublished manuscript prize.

Paul is an active blogger and his site promotes and highlights literary events, calls for submissions and writer interviews (including IMPAC Award-winning writer Kevin Barry, Booker short-listed Alison Moore and upcoming The Story Prize winner George Saunders). His blog receives approximately 40,000 hits a month internationally and he is also very active on facebook and twitter. He is in talks with Arts Council, BBC Radio 4 and Word Factory about a conference, competition and anthology launch next year on the Northern Irish voice in literature.  

Praise For   His Writing
Metro Newspaper: “Paul McVeigh’s story stands out. Funny, moving, poignant. Brilliant.”

The Irish Times: “A pearl of quality… highly original…haunting…superior.”

The Sunday Tribune: “Paul McVeigh's... fresh, exciting, and imaginative production.”

The Guardian: “..engaging and intriguing..”

Time Out London: “Highly enjoyable!” 

The Independent: “Acutely cruel powers of observation.”

The Guardian: “Devilishly funny...a stream of priceless gems.”

1. Declan Kiberd in his book, Inventing Ireland:  The Literature of the Modern Nation, said the

dominant theme of Modern Irish is that of the weak or missing father.  Do you think Kiberd is right? How does this impact your work,if it does.

That observation makes me pause. If I'm honest, I didn't know it was a dominant theme. I operate in such a bubble when I write and analyse the content very rarely. My writing bears no conscious relation to the world of writing, no matter how obvious the connections are to others. In this pause you've brought I have to say the theme impacts on my work greatly. I guess it explains why there's such a focus on the role of the mother (in Ireland and) in my writing. But I am drawn to what is present not what is absent. I am overwhelmed by the hugeness of what was, the ramifications of an absence, I guess, like how they say that when one sense is impaired the others overcompensate. I have to try hard not to write about mothers. The novel I've just written has the title of 'Mammy's Boy' though this may change and that theme chimes. In my upcoming short story on BBC Radio 4 the pivotal scene is about an absent father and how a boy resents this and the impact his feelings have on his Mother. I find it hard not to write about mothers and sons. I have to push myself out of that place. When I sit with the intention to write it is that world that presents itself loudly and I have to walk a long way through it to find other things I feel so strongly about. 

2. How and when did you begin to write?  

I used to think I could only write if I was far away from my life. It was partly avoidance - an excuse not to write at all. It was also a feeling that I couldn't be that person who writes, who talks about the things I wanted to write about while I was around the people I loved and who knew the me as the man who wouldn't say those things. I've always been a very private person and yet when I write I expose things that are raw and uncomfortable. Now that I am older and am more solitary as a person, I find I can write where I am. Sometimes. I'm not a prolific writer. There are stories I've been writing in my head for years. A number I work on over and over waiting for my ability to match my intention. I am not always good enough yet to write the stories I want to tell. 

I write now in fits and starts. My life is busy with wonderful projects that take my time like the live short story event Word factory and I'm currently curating the first London Short Story Festival. I'm about to become less busy in a month or so and I'm excited and nervous about the time I will have. I will write. I will. 

3.   Who are some of your favorite contemporary short story writers.  What classic writers do you find your self drawn to reread.  If a neophyte short story writer were to ask you who to read, what might you suggest?

Claire Keegan is a wonderful writer. She moves me. Each story is an experience. I'm so excited to have secured her for the London Short Story Festival. 

I loved Karen Russell's first collection and look forward to reading more. Colin Barrett. George Saunders. Mary Costello.

Hemmingway I love. All of his work. Harold Brodkey's collection 'Stories in an almost Classical Mode' made me want to write short stories.

4.  Frank  O'Connor in The Lonely Voice:  A Study of the Short Story said short stories seem to be about marginalized people, the lonely, those with with little voice in society.   Do you think he is on to something illuminating about the format?  Why is there so much loneliness in the Irish short story?

Is it because we are all lonely? And we read alone. And we enter the world of loneliness and want to hear that echoed in the text? Is it that all writers are loners and that is what we write about? Don't we all see ourselves as the outsider - marginalized is some way, deep down, and it's not what we talk about socially. We talk to cover up all that, hiding all the important stuff, the things that would make us true. Writing exposes that.

5.  When you write, do you picture and audience or do you just write?  

I just write. I used to write comedy to commission. I gave up writing for a long time for a few reasons and when I returned I made myself a promise that I would only write what I really wanted to say. For my BBC Radio 4 commisssion I found myself back in the position of having to consider an audience and an employer, as such - though they were wonderful in the directive of wanting to commission me to do what I do because they liked it. My instinct is go to somewhere dark and uncomfortable but I had to to consider a daytime radio audience. I really struggled for while. I spent 3 weeks writing stuff that I just didn't like. I went with the intention of writing an idea that's been in my head for a while but I'm just not good enough yet to do it justice. Then a story I'd wanted to write 15 years ago came back to me and I wrote it in one sitting. Then edited of course. They were happy with it and it made me realize I can write with an audience in mind and acheive something close to my voice.

6. Assuming this applies to you, how do you get past creative "dry spells", periods when you have a hard time coming up with ideas or when things seem futile? 

I was able to return to writing by promising myself that I would only write what I wanted even if it never left my computer and I showed no-one. This freed me. Secondly, I wrote only a few sentences at a time. I wrote ideas and thought of them as a peice of work. It built my confidence. The work got longer. Others giving feedback can help kickstart either because you like what they say or because you don't. I've attached 'Dig' which is the very short story that was the first complete piece I wrote when I returned to writing.

7. Have you attended creative writing workshops and if you have share your experiences a bit please.  

I attended quite a few events and workshops, mostly organized by Spread The Word, London's writer development agency. They were very helpful to me. They gave me confidence and essential feedback and then eventually confirmation that I was on to something by giving me my first bursary. I met other writers too and now they are my writing readers, without whom I would be lost and still have all my writing on my computer. I wrote Dig as an exercise to bring to my first prose writing workshop - so they can be an impetus to 'force' you to write.

8.   Death, natural and otherwise is a central factor in the Irish short story and it seems to me to play a bigger factor in the Irish short story than other cultures-can you talk about this a bit, please.

I can only talk about this for myself. The person I am now was moulded by grief. I was consumed by it for such a long time that I believed somehow I spoke a different language than everyone else. I had read and heard about loss. Does this connect with the missing father you mentioned? Absence? Again though it was not the absesnce that consumed me. I had heard the effects of being left behind but no-one told me that it wasn't just the dead who go. The dead take you with them. I am working on 3 stores about death at the moment. With each edit they are getting closer to being something that someone can read. One of those is nearly ready - but its a bit of shocker and even shocks me. I'm not sure they'll ever leave my laptop.

9.    How important is social media in the development of the career of writers?  Do you have your own web page and if so why?  Do you think it is good business savvy to post free samples of your work online?  

I have a blog and it is a good thing. When I started witing again I began to look at the options I had for the work (in the long run). Rather than save the sites I found for myself, I cut and paste the info and posted them in a blog. A trail of breadcrumbs for those that came behind. Ironically, I very rarely apply to things I post about. Perhaps in the year and half maybe 4 or 5 and usually things that could help me write eg bursaries. I've been able to interview some pretty amazing authors - Kevin Barry, Mary Costello, Alison Moore and next week George Saunders. I also think people wish me well because of it, I hope, and maybe one day they might buy something of mine, just out of curiosity. 

I don't put my work online it doesn't feel right. I'm not sure why. 

End

I offer my great thanks to Paul for taking the time from his busy schedule to respond to my questions in such an interesting well considered fashion.  

Paul's specially commissioned short story for BBC Radio 4 will be aired on March 14th. He has upcoming fiction in The Stinging Fly literary journal which launched Kevin Barry, and Paul's interview with Kevin appeared in Two Third's North journal this month. He has been invited to read at the International Short Story Conference, in Vienna, in July, and they will publish a new short story of his in their anthology. 

Paul is curating the first London Short Story Festival in June, with authors like Jackie Kay, Adam Marek, Colin Barrett and Claire Keegan. He is also Deputy Editor of Word Factory literary salon which has had Lionel Shriver, Hanif Kureishi and upcoming AS Byatt. His Word Factory Apprentice Emerging Writer’s Scheme has just been launched with Stella Duffy and Alex Preston. 

Paul McVeigh is from Belfast and founded a theatre company there, writing and directed plays, one of which was nominated for a BBC Entertainment and Media Award. The company also won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival. He moved to London and wrote comedy for stand ups, writing shows that toured the comedy festival circuit and enjoyed runs at the Bloomsbury & Soho Theatres. He worked with the Hampstead and Tricycle Theatres and delivered projects at the British Library and the Barbican.

He has been published in anthologies, journals in the US and online. He has read his work at Word Factory in London, The Brighton Festival and at the National Flash Fiction Day event in Bristol. He won bursaries from New Writing South, The Literary Consultancy and Spread the Word. This novel has been short-listed for an unpublished manuscript prize.

Paul is an active blogger and his site promotes and highlights literary events, calls for submissions and writer interviews (including IMPAC Award-winning writer Kevin Barry, Booker short-listed Alison Moore and upcoming The Story Prize winner George Saunders). 

His blog receives approximately 40,000 hits a month internationally and he is also very active on facebook and twitter. He is in talks with Arts Council, BBC Radio 4 and Word Factory about a conference, competition and anthology launch next year on the Northern Irish voice in literature.  

Praise for His Writing
Metro Newspaper: “Paul McVeigh’s story stands out. Funny, moving, poignant. Brilliant.”

The Irish Times: “A pearl of quality… highly original…haunting…superior.”

The Sunday Tribune: “Paul McVeigh's... fresh, exciting, and imaginative production.”

The Guardian: “..engaging and intriguing..”

Time Out London: “Highly enjoyable!” 

The Independent: “Acutely cruel powers of observation.”

Event Resources  Everyone Is Invited to Join Us for Irish Short Story Month Year Four

Ways to Participate-do a post on your blog and let me know about it-I will keep a master list and I will publicize your post and blog.

If you are an Irish author and would like to be featured, please contact me.   There are several options open.

If you would like to do a guest post on my blog on anything related to Irish short stories, contact me

I am very grateful to Paul for taking the time to provide us with these very interesting responses.

I will be posting one of his short stories soon.

Mel u

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