Getting There

Over the past few days I did a little re-write on my contribution for the anthology. It was good to leave it to one side for a few weeks and to let it float around in my head for a while. I would definitely be expecting at least another couple of re-writes before I have to tackle the dreaded proofread.

All in all I'm happy with how the story has come together and all within the word limit. Spending time in prep has been a worthwhile exercise. Short stories are a format that I will write in again as I've found it very enjoyable.
Next step over the coming weeks will be to get together with other group members and start working on another re-write based on thoughts some of them may have about it and hopefully helping out with one or two of the other stories if needed.

We will also be chatting about other things, like possible titles for the eventual book and the possibility of posting short extracts from the pieces we are all busy on right now.

Though it has been quite of late here there will be plenty more to come very soon.

Noel's writing blog.

First Draft ~ Cripple

I spent much of the past week writing the first draft of my contribution to the anthology. So much for stating I'd try to knock it out in one writing session that would render me zombie-like.
I started at pace, knocking out a third in about five hours before the dawn approached and I had somewhere to be.
When I returned to it, the same blood wasn't flowing through my creative juices so instead of trying to hinder progress, I left it until I had time to turn things over in my mind. The story was the better for it. I paced myself, took time to think about what I was writing. Structurally, I adhered to what I had prepped for myself. Structure is nothing unless you fill in the gaps in between, and I was glad it took the week, wrote in leisure at my own pace, in times of my choosing and to me, that's important and I'm lucky to have that freedom.

I came up 500 words short than my target. That's fine, I've plenty of re-writing to do. From the first draft I now have a blue print to work from. Given it's only 15 pages in length in it's current state, I'll print it out next week and save some of the sight I have left. I'll work from a print out as I set about fine tuning it. There's plenty of time to return to it a few more times and I intend to. I'm excited I've tried something new, I've wrote short stories but they were all filed away completed in first draft form never to be re-visited.

I'm happy with what I've wrote. I wrote it in the first person. I find it easier when writing a character to step into their shoes. I can still step in more but that will require more work. It's possible I'll do it but that won't become apparent until I've read it a number of times again. If it's anything like the process of writing a book I'm sure it will change quite a bit. This time though, I won't have the battle of deciding which words to delete.

This time I need a few more...

Erasings Days

In response to an earlier post from Barry, I though I should expand a little on the theme of the anthology and how it came about.
Over the course of the past few years, I have found a little time on my hands and as such found myself reading about people on Wikipedia. It was there I discovered a man by the name of Hugh Everett, a physicist who brought a theory about parallel worlds and universes to the world. Cascaded and frowned upon after he wrote it, Everett moved away from Academia and worked for the US government in various roles up until his untimely death early in his fifties.


Everett's theory has since been accepted as a ground-breaking work in the years since he wrote it. Everett was an alcoholic and could be a little eccentric. His family life laid him bare as a cold being, his wife died young as did his daughter, who committed suicide soon after her father's death. His son Mark is the lead singer with the group Eels.

If you want to find out more about Everett's life, I suggest you watch a documentary called Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives, if for no other reason than to learn a little more about this extraordinary story.


His theory speaks to me somewhat. Though it is difficult to comprehend, it does open up another line of thinking when it comes to thought about who we are and what existence is all about. From that and in an effort to try and come up with a loosely based theme for the anthology, I thought I'd ask the participating writers to explore a theme surrounding 'if there was one day in life they could erase'.

I told everybody that they could draw from that what they please, but I felt it was important to at least attempt to have a running theme through all the short stories and that's what I came up with.


Though my own story has nothing to do with scientific theory, or is in no way aligned with Hugh Everett's thinking, two events from his life brought me to that theme. The first was his death of a heart attach at just 51. Stemming from that was his request for his ashes to be thrown out with the trash. Maybe they were two days he would have liked to erase, but then again perhaps not.

Everett believed in a many worlds theory where absolutely everything was possible, good or bad. Since science can't argue with him, even to this day, it is a wonderful thought when you think of the good. It was something I kept in mind when i wrote It's What You leave Behind and I felt it worked well. I hope the theme provides interesting angles for all the writers involved in this, be they good or bad.

The Chillaxationary Position

It's OK, you're safe. I'm not starting columns on new sexual positions. It's Sunday, I'm lying on my bed with the laptop on my folded leg, and watching a spot of golf. I think, this week anyway, I've earned it. I finished to the best of my capabilities, It's What You Leave Behind this morning. Three weeks shy of a year.
It finished up at 90,353 words, which is a long way short of the original first draft, which went over 200,000. I did enjoy that re-writing process and all the edits in between. Someone once said that writing was re-writing. Up to now I didn't listen to that. This time I did.

You only ever get to write one first book and when I made the commitment to write it, I promised myself I'd test myself to the best of my ability. Over the course of the past two weeks the book went through a major and intense copy-edit, work that was slow and tedious. The final two proofreads after that, were the slowest I have ever read in my life.

From a personal prospective there is little more I can do it. If I ever do get an invite to read the entire manuscript, then I can honestly say I'm handing over the best I got inside me at the present time. I'm drawing the line under it now and although continuing submissions will be still sent out over the coming 4 weeks, if an offer to read the entire manuscript does not materialise, I'll stick with the numbers game and use that particular hit count to make an informed decision that maybe the invite will not come. It's a tough marketplace, no doubt about it.

I'm going to start the first draft of my short story contribution to the International Ink writing group by mid-week. My body aches somewhat after the past fortnight. I'm very lucky to have a very understanding partner who just leaves me to it. A tired writer can't be an easy thing to look at. It's important to have that support, especially when you consider it a job, but it brings in no money as yet. The economic times suck, but without it I may be still be one of those dreamers still waiting on the right time to do it.

I'm pretty sure many, many novels have started over the centuries and many were not completed. This was my third effort over the years. Third time lucky.

I feel like doing a little celebrating, but I doubt that is going to amount to much more than some decent sleep over the coming days and nights. A big dirty cigar and a bottle of vodka.... if only.

It's been worth the effort, if for no other reason than to maybe show the kids someday that if they put to their mind to doing something, it can be done. If for no other reason than just proving you can do it for yourself. That may sound like a cheap cop-out to failure for some, to me it's the one thing that carried this project through many long days and nights.
Of course one can't rest on laurels. Looking forward to drafting the short this week. Then it's on to researching and preparing for my second book. It will be something completely different, a dark portrait of a certain character. It will be a much different test. Will require a lot more from the writer within. It will be dealing with wayward psychology of the mind and in the crime genre. Fiction again.

Once I flesh it out and prepare properly, then it will only take about eight weeks to do a first draft. So fingers crossed early next year the countdown will be on to book 2.

Today though, it's the chillaxationary position. Here's to staying the course. For once. :)

Noel Farrell

Noel Farrell is a writer and director who lives in Trim, Co Meath in Ireland. He has been writing for many years but has only been taking it seriously for the past four.

Noel has written many short stories and poems in the years he was exploring all that the wild side of life had to offer. When he decided that writing was something he wanted to explore on a professional level he took the steps necessary to educate himself in the art of screenwriting. He has since authored a number of short and feature film scripts and try as he may homes are hard to find for them. In the past couple of years Noel has been learning all that is involved in the area of film production and has produced and directed a number of projects. He writes about his film making work here.

After the breakdown of a film production he had been working on Noel questioned whether he wanted to continue in the harsh environment of screenwriting and film-making. Following a chat with fellow Intercontinental Writer Gerry Tully, Noel began a blog writing under the fictional character Don Booker and through that Noel wrote the book It's What You Leave Behind which is now complete and in the process of seeking a publisher/agent.
Noel continues to write about life in recessionary Ireland as seen through the eyes of Don Booker and the blog can be found here.

Noel put out a call in late May 2010 to fellow writers and from that the group Intercontinental Ink was formed with the intention of producing an anthology of short stories before the end of 2010.

When Noel is not writing he enjoys spending time with his family. He is an avid supporter of Arsenal F.C and has an interest in social issues and politics which he uses the Don Booker Blog to explore.
He recently set up Wannabe TV, a community group which endeavors to promote and develop a culture of creativity in the visual medium in the town of Trim.
Trim is the home of Oscar winning epic, Braveheart and cult classic, Fatal Deviation. Noel hopes to move away from comedy in his directorial pursuits over the coming months and enter the realm of drama when he produces the short film, The Man Who Held His Own Hand which he also wrote.