Most candidate writers were disappointed with the initial draft, but the writer booker-longlisted writer Kevin Barry had several suggestions for them: “The first draft is always terrible.
Writing rewriting and editing and taking all the messy scaffolding and finding that there are stories and shapes there.
“Barry, along with Irish writers Sinéad Gleeson, discussed their books and writing processes with the author of Anita Nair at the Times literature festival.
Gleeson, who has edited anthology at a glance: 100 short stories of Ireland, said fear can resist the author again.
“Having a routine, appearing on your desk and forgetting your fear is the key to being consistent, and hopefully, the author is published,” he said.
Barry suggested the writers who aspire to write at the same time every day, even if it was only 20 minutes.
“You have to make an agreement with yourself that you will be serious about it.”
The authors also talk about the differences between short stories and novels.
Barry, who has written three short story collections and three novels, said, “it has been more similar to poetry, a song, painting rather than novels,” he said.
“This is an interesting form for me as a writer because of the difficulties – you have so little space to pick readers.
Novels are much more forgiving and loose.”
