Michelle Coyne is a multi-award-winning short story writer from Co. Galway, Ireland. She is the winner of the Listowel Originals Short Story Award 2015, the Short Fiction Journal Competition 2016 and a 2018 Hennessy New Irish Writing Winner. She was runner up in Doolin Writers’ Weekend short story competition in 2016 and highly commended in the Colm Toibin International Short Story Award a year later. In the recent ‘So you want to write a …’ webinar series, Michelle spoke to Nicola about the shorty story. Here are some of the resources and competitions discussed in the webinar.
Links to Michelle’s work
Hennessy New Irish Writing Winner: Smoke
Short Fiction Prize Winner: Strand Baby
Literary journals who accept submissions
Crannóg
Banshee
The Stinging Fly
The Moth
The Dublin Review
Granta
Silver Apples
Tangerine
Splonk (Flash Fiction)
Short Story Competitions
Sean O’Faolain International Short Story Competition
Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award (Listowel)
New Irish Writing (now in the Irish Independent)
The Moth Short Story Prize
The Manchester Prize
Doolin Writers’ Weekend Short Story Competition
Francis McManus RTE 1 Radio Competition
Bridport
Fish Short Story Competitions (Various)
Michelle and Nicola’s recommended short story collections
Multitudes by Lucy Caldwell
Room Little Darker by June Caldwell
This Hostel Life by Melatu Uche Okorie
The Long Gaze Back, edited by Sinead Gleeson
The End of the World is a Cul de Sac by Louse Kennedy (published 2021)
The Accidental Wife by Orla McAlinden
Michelle’s recommended short stories to read
Medusa by Pat Barker
The Shape of My Name by Nino Cipri
Mr Lottery by Sally Rooney
Sparing the Heather by Louise Kennedy
The Fourth State of Matter by Jo-Ann Beard
Mary Kate O’Flanagan is an award-winning writer and story consultant working in the film and television industry. She works with writers in The UK, The US, South Africa, and across Europe. Mary Kate works as a credited co-writer and an uncredited script doctor. She was Ireland’s First Grand Slam Champion Storyteller at The Moth. She was also a Grand Slam Champion Storyteller at The Moth in Los Angeles and a Champion Storyteller at The Dublin StorySlam. With her sister Rachel O’Flanagan, she gives training in the storytelling skills for professionals in cinema and television. They are particularly interested in the stories individuals and entities tell about themselves and how those stories inevitably shape their futures. You can see more about their work on www.adramaticimprovement.com. In September 2020 Nicola held an online webinar with Mary Kate to discuss the foundations of writing a screenplay and story telling for TV and cinema. You can view this webinar back by clicking the video below. We have linked some of the resources that screenplay writers may find useful, particularly when starting out.
Listen back to Mary Kate’s Grand Slam Storyteller Winners
Stories Live (Various)
Helpful screenplay books
How to build a great screenplay by David Howard
Poetics by Aristotle
Do/Story by Bobette Buster
The Use of Enchantment by Bruno Betelheim
Story by Robert McKee
On Film-Making by Alexandar McKendrick
Into the Woods by John Yorke
Cinematic Storytelling by Jennifer Sijll
Screenwriting Softwares
Final Draft
Celtx
Trelby
Screenwriting Podcasts
The Movies That Made Me
The West Wing Thing
Resource Websites
Screenskills Ireland
Writers’ Guild of Ireland
Screen Ireland
Competitions & Opportunities
Film Freeway
Film Network Ireland
The Blacklist
As part of the ‘So you want to write a …’ series, Nicola interviewed Andrea Mara on the novel in September 2020. Andrea Mara is a crime novelist from Dublin, Ireland. Her first book, The Other Side of the Wall, was shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award 2018 and an Amazon number one bestseller in Irish Crime. Her second book, One Click, was shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year at the 2018 An Post Irish Book Awards, and a number one bestseller on Amazon in Irish Crime and Northern Irish Crime. Her third novel, The Sleeper Lies, published in February 2020, was an Irish Times Top Ten Bestseller. Andrea also runs multi-award-winning parent and lifestyle blog, OfficeMum.ie. She has recently signed a two-book deal with Transworld. Click on the webinar video below to watch the session back. We have also included some of the helpful links discussed during the event.
Helpful Books
Stephen King – On Writing
Elizabeth Gilbert – Big Magic
Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
Writing Websites
www.wordsireland.ie
www.writing.ie
www.irishwriterscentre.ie
www.nanowrimo.org
www.thecreativepenn.com
www.creativewriting.ie
www.bigsmokewritingfactory.com
Software & Editing Services
www.literatureandlatte.com (Scrivener Software)
www.inkwellwriters.ie
On Finding An Agent Novel Competitions
www.writersandartists.co.uk www.christopherfielden.com
www.jerichowriters.com www.writing.ie
As part of the ‘So you want to write a …’ series, Nicola interviewed Ronan McQuillan on the podcast in September 2020. Ronan is a musician, composer, producer and sound designer. He holds a diploma in communications and media production and completes a masters in audio production and technology in 2020. He has worked with world leading brands to produce music for advertising campaigns across TV, radio and interest broadcasting such as Coca-Cola, Playstation, Manchester Utd, and Unilever. He is the producer of Celtic Soul podcast. He is currently developing a new podcast studio and training centre for the North East of Ireland. You can view his website at www.ronanmcquillan.com and email hi@ronanmcquillan.com for more information.
The podcast webinar was packed with practical information and tips, from what sort of software, technology and equipment to use, to information on how to classify your podcast and get it to chart. Since the webinar Ronan has kindly made available a pack of transition sounds that may be helpful for podcasters starting out. Below you you will see an image of the podcasts discussed in the webinar and links to equipment and online softwares. You can also watch the webinar back via the video below. Before you start researching and producing your podcast, Ronan recommends you visit: Apple: Podcast best practices & guidelines.
Free Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Software:
Reaper
Audacity Team
Steinberg
Podcast hosting:
Remote Interview Recording:
This starter podcaster pack is available from local Irish business The Sound Shop for only €205. Click on the image to buy direct.
Free music:
Free Sound effects:
Artwork & Images:
Image Editing:
