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Ted Dunphy

Goodreads Author

Born

in Waterford One of Cromwell's cannon balls is still lodged in the city walls, allegedly.., Ireland

Website

http://www.teddunphy.co.uk/

Twitter

teddunphy

Genre

Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult

Influences

V.S.Pritchett, Studs Terkel, Brian Moore, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain, B ...more

Member Since

June 2015

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I am an avid reader, a storyteller, author and blogger.
I create characters who are unusual. Readers like the comic antics and the quirky names of my characters. I give them names that have their own backstory that I leave to the readers’ imagination to conjure with. Runaway Flynn and Combine Maloney with his missing legs conjures up their own unique stories.
A professor at Warwick University MA Creative Writing programme told me ‘the anarchic humour in your writing has a darker side that is typically Irish’.
The humour and the way I deal with the absurdities of life open up serious issues. That approach comes from my background and from years tuned into the many people I met on my journey to today.
Some readers don’t care to read about serious ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Ted Dunphy Over several Sunday nights I saw a group of retired men taking a late night drink in a local pub. Each of them had a rich working background but were …moreOver several Sunday nights I saw a group of retired men taking a late night drink in a local pub. Each of them had a rich working background but were now put out to pasture. It seemed such a waste and I wondered what would happen if they decided not to take their forced retirement lying down. From there, the story took off by itself and the title grew out of the situation of the men and was summed up in the message of 'Don't Poke the Fire', because if you do, sparks will fly.(less)

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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Ted Dunphy I don't experience writers block.
My problem is being blocked from writing by incidentals like people needing something - always urgently, work that m…moreI don't experience writers block.
My problem is being blocked from writing by incidentals like people needing something - always urgently, work that must be completed by a deadline, falling asleep, making time to eat and stay healthy and wondering where on earth my time goes.
In each of my books - completed and those I am working on - a character will act up at some point and refuse to fit into what I thought the story was about. The behavior if left unchecked will wreck the plot. I give time for that character and the others in the story to sort out where they think the story is going. I ease off writing and let them get on with working out how to go forward. All this seemingly takes place in my subconscious. I just write the story, I don't dictate how it will develop.
Within a day or two, the characters have found a solution and they shove the way forward into my conscious mind. I take up the writing again, following where they lead, pretending that I am in charge just because I am the named author.
While all that sorting out is going on without me, I have plenty of other writing or publicity to turn to. I always have more than one piece of writing going at any one time and there is normally a new book stirring somewhere in those dark places of the mind that is the seedbed of imagination and creativity.
Writer's block? If only I had the time for it.(less)

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Combine Editions
Ted Dunphy’s books

Average rating: 3.5 · 2 ratings · 0 reviews · 7 distinct works

	Snuff O'Brien's Private War 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Don't Poke the Fire 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rowing Down the World to Auckland 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Devil To Pay 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A View From the Boiler House Door 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A View From The Boiler House Door 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Devil To Pay by Ted Dunphy (2015-11-30) by Ted Dunphy (Goodreads Author), Unknown Author 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Ted’s Quotes

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
The Second Coming”
― Wb Yeats

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