Ask the Author: Stephen McCarthy
Answered Questions (11)
Stephen McCarthy
I have used a family mystery as a starting point for my third Novel, Nobody's Hero.
My father told me a story about my grandmother hiding her brother in the loft of the family house during the Irish Civil War in 1922. My grandfather would have been on the opposing side of the conflict. He hid until he could be spirited away to America.
The mystery involved the fact that my Grandmother didn't have a brother in 1922. Her only brother had died of TB in 1908.
The novel grew from that story into a tale about a girl in New York in 2001 who is researching her family history, while dealing with 9/11. It overlaps with her family's involvement in Vietnam and the insidious effects of PTSD in general.
It is also an unconventional love story dealing with identity and one's sense of nationality.
I also set the Irish parts in my hometown of Monkstown, Co. Cork and used my knowledge of the area to add an authentic flavour. Maybe if successful the book will inspire a tourist boom and help out local businesses.
It was enjoyable to write a story about real places and events and create 'whatif' scenarios.
My father told me a story about my grandmother hiding her brother in the loft of the family house during the Irish Civil War in 1922. My grandfather would have been on the opposing side of the conflict. He hid until he could be spirited away to America.
The mystery involved the fact that my Grandmother didn't have a brother in 1922. Her only brother had died of TB in 1908.
The novel grew from that story into a tale about a girl in New York in 2001 who is researching her family history, while dealing with 9/11. It overlaps with her family's involvement in Vietnam and the insidious effects of PTSD in general.
It is also an unconventional love story dealing with identity and one's sense of nationality.
I also set the Irish parts in my hometown of Monkstown, Co. Cork and used my knowledge of the area to add an authentic flavour. Maybe if successful the book will inspire a tourist boom and help out local businesses.
It was enjoyable to write a story about real places and events and create 'whatif' scenarios.
Stephen McCarthy
Catcher in the Rye and the world of Holden Caulfield.
I would like to go and listen to him because I don't think anyone ever really has. Indulge his bizarre compulsion to annoy everyone he encounters and hear him out.
I appreciate it would be difficult and he may give up on me before I give up on him but I think there is a good person in there and he deserves some time. Time is the only truly valuable commodity we have to give.
The world is a noisy place these days, we all need someone to listen once and a while. Otherwise we end up like the Doctor in Catch 22.
I would like to go and listen to him because I don't think anyone ever really has. Indulge his bizarre compulsion to annoy everyone he encounters and hear him out.
I appreciate it would be difficult and he may give up on me before I give up on him but I think there is a good person in there and he deserves some time. Time is the only truly valuable commodity we have to give.
The world is a noisy place these days, we all need someone to listen once and a while. Otherwise we end up like the Doctor in Catch 22.
Stephen McCarthy
Stephen was asked to write a two sentence horror story. It was terrifying!
Stephen McCarthy
This Summer I start my next novel so reading will be in the background. I will be looking out for interesting books through this site though and would welcome any recommendations from other readers.
I recently finished Sebastian Barry's Secret Scripture so I am ready now to get back into my writing.
I recently finished Sebastian Barry's Secret Scripture so I am ready now to get back into my writing.
Stephen McCarthy
Holly Golightly and Fred from the novella version of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. I read the book long after seeing the film and was taken by the lack of the Hollywood ending. There is no affair, no happily ever after. There's just two people with their baggage bumping against each other in a strange place. They share space and dreams for a brief wonderful time and then go their separate ways.
I always see them as presenting the idea that we should seek happiness where it is and cherish it while we can.
I often think the film 'Lost in Translation' by Sofia Coppola echoes this idea. Different characters thrown together by circumstance finding happiness, however fleeting. Simple happiness without drama or crisis, a shared enjoyment of life's idiocy and transient nature.
Holly and Fred, I like them.
I always see them as presenting the idea that we should seek happiness where it is and cherish it while we can.
I often think the film 'Lost in Translation' by Sofia Coppola echoes this idea. Different characters thrown together by circumstance finding happiness, however fleeting. Simple happiness without drama or crisis, a shared enjoyment of life's idiocy and transient nature.
Holly and Fred, I like them.
Stephen McCarthy
The best thing about being a writer is the same as that for being a reader. It is an escape to another place, another world, another life. Wonderful things come across my mind as I write. I start with a plan for a scene and then it develops before me as I write. The characters talk to me or more importantly refuse to say what I thought they should say.
I feel like I am an observer of the scene, recording not creating the events. This is the best thing where a plot can change because it feels right, the reactions feel natural and credible and the flow I seek is there.
On a good day when you write 4-5000 words you feel energized and absorbed like a good reader can experience when they get hooked in a story. This is how I hope my books can be enjoyed.
I feel like I am an observer of the scene, recording not creating the events. This is the best thing where a plot can change because it feels right, the reactions feel natural and credible and the flow I seek is there.
On a good day when you write 4-5000 words you feel energized and absorbed like a good reader can experience when they get hooked in a story. This is how I hope my books can be enjoyed.
Stephen McCarthy
My latest book 'Battered' has been in my head for years. I didn't want to write it as it is loosely based on real events and it felt inappropriate. But it stayed there niggling at me until I relented and wrote it all down.
The story grew away from the events as the characters came to life and began to exert influence on the narrative.
I did go to school with somebody who years later was accused of murder and I noticed the split in his old school friends that resulted from the trauma of that. People chose sides emotionally not rationally.
At the time I also had peripheral contact with the deceased's side of the story so had their different perspective to draw on.
The story grew away from the events as the characters came to life and began to exert influence on the narrative.
I did go to school with somebody who years later was accused of murder and I noticed the split in his old school friends that resulted from the trauma of that. People chose sides emotionally not rationally.
At the time I also had peripheral contact with the deceased's side of the story so had their different perspective to draw on.
Stephen McCarthy
Dreams and bottles of wine generally do the trick.
Stephen McCarthy
My advice is simple; Be Bothered. If you want to be a writer, then write. Write anything, write everything that is in your head. Be bothered about what you are doing. Find out from whatever source you can how to do what you want to do and make the time. Nobody is going to write it for you, so get stuck in and have fun.
Don't get disheartened if you get no response to your efforts. There is a lot of us doing the same thing so competition is pretty fierce but that also means there is lots of support as well.
If you are enjoying what you do, keep doing it.
Don't get disheartened if you get no response to your efforts. There is a lot of us doing the same thing so competition is pretty fierce but that also means there is lots of support as well.
If you are enjoying what you do, keep doing it.
Stephen McCarthy
I recently finished my second novel, Battered. I am taking a break to look into the promotion side of the endeavour.
I have strong ideas in my head for a children's book, a sci-fi novel and even a self help book.
All is good at the minute.
I have strong ideas in my head for a children's book, a sci-fi novel and even a self help book.
All is good at the minute.
Stephen McCarthy
I approach writing the same as my profession. I have been a Civil Engineer for almost 30 years. I use tools such as Excel to plan the passages out in sequence, move them around as and when they need to.
When I reach a point in the narrative when I get blocked, I jump it. I go and write another passage, with other characters. I get my head into a different part of the story.
I then stitch the passages together and read the whole to ensure continuity. It works for me.
When I reach a point in the narrative when I get blocked, I jump it. I go and write another passage, with other characters. I get my head into a different part of the story.
I then stitch the passages together and read the whole to ensure continuity. It works for me.
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