Bloomsday 2011
I confess I never finished Ulysses. I got as far as the Wandering Rocks episode (about halfways through) and then college hit and it wasn’t compulsory so I dropped it. Don’t get me wrong, It’s a brilliant book, it deserves the fame. But it also deserves it’s reputation as a difficult book. I read the […]
REVIEW: ‘Attila’ by William Napier
Attila: The end of the world will come from the East by William Napier 2 out of 10 I recently completed a module on the Later Roman Empire called Christians, Barbarians and the Fall of Rome. Roughly 4 months of lectures, study, exams, essay and there was not one mention of Attila the Hun. I […]
Creative Writing Drinking Games
As promised: Alcohol induced literary madness gleaned from the finest corners of the internet! 1. The players in this game stand in a line and each person will say a part of a story. This can be as short as one sentence per person; however, the people in line do not tell their part of the […]
Maynooth (Epic) Writers group
So a friend of mine started a writers group in Maynooth recently. We’re hoping to get a blog and a facebook page set up eventually and possibly an online critique system but for the minute I’ll just explain what it is. Anyone is allowed attend and we critique each others creative writing. You don’t need to […]
Ugh… Vampires
Says it all really, doesn’t it? But why does it say it all? Why do so many of us cringe at the word Vampire these days? Hmm… I wonder… Oh yeah, this heap of shite: Or “Twi-Shite” as it’s fondly known amongst my friends. I know this is probably like flogging a dead horse to […]
Decisions Decisions…
So I applied for a Creative Writing MA next year. There’s not much choice in Ireland, there’s one in University College Dublin (UCD), Trinity College Dublin (TCD) or Queen’s university Belfast (QUB). Some people argue that there’s one in National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) but that’s really a masters in Writing; it has modules […]
Necromancy
so this blog died a swift death… Rest In Peace little blog, Rest In Peace. It was probably never a good idea to make a commitment like this coming into my final year of college – unless I can get into some sort of routine with a new activity I tend to abandon it pretty […]
My top 10
So here is the current version of my ever changing top ten favourite books. Number one has been pretty consistent for the past few years but the others are ever changing and in no particular order (click on the links to buy them on amazon) 1. Use of Weapons – Iain M. Banks – his […]
Undergraduate Research Conference
I’m giving a brief talk/presentation at the first (soon to be annual) Dublin Undergraduate Research Conference next week. It’s organised by the DRHEA. Details of the talks and presentations on the day are available here, technically it’s too late to register but as they’re trying to promote it I reckon people can still come, application details available […]
1st Person Vs. 3rd Person
So the battle of perspectives has begun. I spent most of the summer obsessing over my Work-in-Progress (a novel): What will my main character be like, What order will things happen in, researching life in Ireland in th 1850’s, deciding that was too boring, changing it to Ireland in the 1950s… Stuff like that plus […]