Did You Ever Think about Writing for Television?

Do you regularly spot news items and think someone should make a TV series out of it? Do your fingers itch to write storylines for programmes you love? Yes? Well read on!

Although television is a visual medium, it’s still based on the written word and all programmes start out as a single idea first spelt out on paper. But because writers rarely make programmes, they must sell their ideas to the people that do. One way is to write a Treatment – essentially a written pitch summarising an idea into a few pages – with a dynamite script to complete the submission package.

Still interested?

In an introductory course run by Caren Kennedy, participants learn where the potential openings are in television and what writers must do in order to break in. By the end of the course, those who take advantage of all assignments will have created a polished Treatment showcasing their own idea for a series, complete with logline, synopsis, outlines for episodes and a query letter designed to grab the attention of programme makers.

Writing TV Treatments  online course - 8 weeks (4 modules) Caren Kennedy gives one-to-one mentoring and instruction on how to begin writing for television and develop ideas into storylines. Cost - €120.00

Caren Kennedy  works as an editor, proofreader, writing tutor and researcher.  She is the creator of a television series currently in pre-production with Warner Bros TV, co-author of Fake Alibis (BenBella Books, 2009), guest blogger for  www.writing.ie, and writing consultant with The Inkwell Group.

For more information visit: www.carenkennedywrites.com or send Caren an email direct to: carenkennedywrites@gmail.com

Feedback

Maura Byrne:  http://www.maura-byrne.com/

Caren Kennedy’s ‘Writing TV Treatments’ course is instructive, informative and extremely interesting.  Each module, delivered in easy-to-learn units, taught me how to flesh out my idea for a TV series, pump it up and transform it into a robust pitch.  But more than this, I learned how to summarise ideas for impact, research target markets, and stay motivated during the writing process. In short, this course is an excellent one which I would highly recommend to anyone wishing to further their writing career.

Michelle Moloney King:  www.TeacherMoloneyKing.com

This writing course is for anyone who wants to write. It is not limited to budding or established screenwriters. We covered ideas sourcing, research, visual writing skills, plot and character development, plus where and how to send submissions to television production companies. As I am a primary school teacher who uses lesson plans on a daily basis, nothing pleased me more than to find that Caren’s lessons were laid out in a comprehensive and detailed manner.  Her feedback was honest, succinct and got to the heart of any problems.  My writing and articulation of ideas has improved beyond imagining and I was amazed by this. Since the day I first started getting feedback from Caren, my blog has almost doubled its readership following. 

Why are we interested in Crime?

Guess what?  I'm the new Crime Scene Blogger for http://www.writing.ie/ and today is my first post on Crime Scene. I hope you'll  all enjoy our explorations about Crime writing and Crime reading there, and will help me build the site into something really interesting and worthwhile by giving as much feedback as possible through your comments. 

Below is the opening few lines, you can read more by clicking on the link below, and please, please leave your comments!



Crime Night at Hodges Figgis



Six years ago, when I began writing, I had no idea that one day I would be writing crime fiction.  Perhaps it’s a little bit like how some people believe the writer doesn’t find the story, but rather the story finds them.

I can't speak for other writers, but for me very soon into my writing journey, I realised I had an insatiable desire to delve into the darker side of who we are as human beings.....

Follow the rest of the post HERE

Novelicious/Harper Collins/Simon & Schuster UK Novel Competition

Okay, I know I've been a little absent lately!!!!  Busy writing away like a lonely bird hiding in the attic, the only sound, the tap tap of keys on my laptop, and the odd roar from the family asking who I am again:)

Still, if you've missed me, well I've missed you too.  And just by means of showing you how generous I am to my friends, here's a nice little writing competition for you to go and have a good think about!

Novelicious has teamed up with Avon (HarperCollins) and Books and the City (Simon & Schuster UK) to bring you the chick lit event of the year!

Think you could be the next Jane Green, Marian Keyes or Sophie Kinsella? Believe you have the talent to become Britain's Next Chick Lit Star? Want the chance to win a host of AMAZING prizes? If the answer is yes, then Novelicious Undiscovered is the competition for you...

THE PRIZES
This year there will be two main awards up for grabs:


The People's Choice Award Winner
The top twenty entries as judged by the Novelicious team will be put to a public vote in June. The entrant with the most votes will win the following:
A full manuscript critique with Avon Commissioning Editor Caroline Hogg over tea and cake in their London offices. Your chance to get feedback on your novel and ask any questions you have about publishing.   A £50 voucher for writersgifts.co.uk
An introduction to and entry critique from top UK Literary Agent, Diane Banks of Diane Banks Associates Ltd
A selection of 10 Avon Titles
A Kindle ebook reader (provided by Idealo)


The Books and The City Choice Award Winner 

The Books and The City Choice winner will be chosen from the top twenty entries by the Fiction Editorial department at Simon & Schuster UK. Their choice will win the following:
A full manuscript feedback from the editorial team at Simon & Schuster
Author Mentoring and meeting with Sunday Times Bestselling author of RSVP Helen Warner
 A £50 voucher from writersgifts.co.uk
A Books and the City 10 Book Selection

Runner Up
  The entry with the second highest number of votes will win the following:
A full manuscript critique from the Novelicious Editor
A Hotel Chocolat Bliss Out Bag from hotelchocolat.co.uk
A Books and the City 10 Book Selection

HOW TO ENTER
By entering this competition you are deemed to have read and accepted the full Terms and Conditions

• Please send no more than the first 3000 words of your chick lit novel as a word attachment (name the attachment as the title of your book) to undiscovered@novelicious.com

• Please don’t include your name or any personal details in the attachment

• Email Subject Line should be – Undiscovered – Your Name – The Name Of Your Book

• In the body of your entry email please tell us the following:

1. Your Name
2. Your address (you must be a UK or Ireland resident!)
3. The word count of your entry
4. In order to keep you updated with Undiscovered and general Novelicious updates, we would like to add your email address to our mailing list (don't worry, your email address is for our eyes only.) Please tell us in your email if you do not wish to be added to the Novelicious mailing list.

• Short Stories will not be accepted

• Entrants must not be under contract with a publisher, or signed with an agent at the time of entry

• Entries must not have been previously published digitally or in print

• Closing Date for entries is 3^rd April (see below for the full order of events)

PLEASE READ THE FULL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF ENTRY HERE

ORDER OF EVENTS

Feb 14th                          Novelicious Undiscovered opens for entries

April 3rd                          Closing date for entries

April 24th                        Top 20 entries are announced

MAY                                 Top 20 entries are showcased on Novelicious.com

June 5th - June 19th     Top 20 are opened to a public vote

June 26th                        The winners of Undiscovered are announced!

WILLIAM TREVOR / ELIZABETH BOWEN

INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2012.

 FIRST PRIZE:  3,000 EURO

 (SPONSORED BY WILLIAM TREVOR)

         2nd prize: 500 Euro                 

 5 runners up prizes of 200 Euro each.

Mitchelstown Literary Society is pleased to announce the launch of the second William Trevor / Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Competition. 

The Society was founded to celebrate the lives and works of two of Ireland's literary greats with Mitchelstown connections. The short story competition evolved as a natural adjunct to our annual literary festival and aims to provide a competitive outlet for new and emerging writers in the short story genre. The continued support of William Trevor includes sponsoring the very generous First Prize.

Our adjudicators are both well-known short story writers and book reviewers. They will select a short list of approximately 25 stories to be passed on for final adjudication.

Drumshanbo born, Dublin resident, Ita Daly, our main adjudicator, was married to writer and editor, the late David Marcus.  Educated at UCD, Ita holds a Masters Degree in English.  She has published five novels, a collection of short stories and two children's books.  Two times winner of the Hennessy Literary Awards and an Irish Times Short Story Award winner, Ita's last novel 'Unholy Ghosts' was long listed for the Impact Award.

Details of rules, official entry form(s), payment methods etc. can be had from our official contact points indicated below.

There is entry fee of 20.00 Euro per entry and the Closing Date for receipt of entries is last post on Friday, 30th March 2012.

The winner and runners up will be notified personally as well as results being posted to the competition website as they become available.

Entries, by post only, to:

Trevor/Bowen International Short Story Competition,         

37 Upper Cork Street

,

Mitchelstown,

Co. Cork,  

Ireland.

Contact Points:

Tel: (025) 84969.       

Email: cusackliam@eircom.net              

Visit:   www.mitchelstownlit.com

                       

Official Press Release!

PRESS RELEASE
HACHETTE BOOKS IRELAND

New voice in Irish crime writing

Hachette Books Ireland acquires new psychological crime author Louise Phillips in a two book deal struck between Ciara Doorley, Editorial Director, Hachette Books Ireland and Ger Nichol of The Book Bureau for Irish and UK Commonwealth rights.

Red Ribbons, the first book in the deal, centres round the abduction and murder of a twelve-year old school girl and the main character Julie Pearson, criminal psychologist who is drafted in by the police to help them find the killer.

Ciara Doorley of Hachette Ireland says of Louise. ‘With overtones of Sophie Hannah and Tana French, Louise is a supremely talented writer. She subconsciously creates parallels between her characters, and this really challenges the reader. Her writing is tense, atmospheric and we’re really excited to be launching a new voice in Irish crime.’

Red Ribbons is told from three perspectives: the main character Julie; Ellie Brady, an inmate of St Michael’s Mental Institute (convicted of killing her own daughter fifteen years earlier); and the killer.

RED RIBBONS ---- The ‘bad man’ is everywhere . . . can you see him?

Hachette Books Ireland will publish Louise’s first book Red Ribbons in Trade Paperback September 2012 and her second novel The Doll’s House will be published in 2013.

Author Biography

RED RIBBONS, is Louise Phillip’s debut novel.  Born in Dublin, she began writing in 2006, when her youngest son turned thirteen. Since then, Louise has won the Jonathan Swift Award with her story Last Kiss. She was a winner in the Irish Writers’ Centre Lonely Voice Platform, short-listed for the Molly Keane Memorial Award, Bridport UK, and long-listed twice for RTE Guide/Penguin short story competition.  Louise has been published as part of many anthologies, including County Lines from New Island, and various literary journals.  From an early age, Louise has been an avid reader, and always held the dream that one day she would write a novel. Red Ribbons is the culmination of that dream.

Launch of History Press Ireland's New Fiction Line - The Scarlet Ribbon

Next Wednesday sees a great event happening in Dublin.  History Press Ireland are launching their New Fiction Line, and the first novel to achieve this prestigious honour is, The Scarlet Ribbon, a collaboration between a great journalist & friend, Katy (Derry) O'Dowd, and her father the eminent Michael O'Dowd.  Introduction to novel and bio's below.

The launch will take place Wednesday 8th February at Hodges Figgis, Dawson Street at 7.30.  Should prove to be an historical night - so don't miss it!

'The Scarlet Ribbon' has been chosen to launch the History Press Ireland's New Fiction Line.

Introduction to the Novel

Written by father and daughter team Michael and Katy O'Dowd, the book follows James Quinn, a young Irish surgeon battling prejudice, suspicion and personal demons in his controversial quest to change the face of medicine.

Following his marriage, tragedy strikes, thrusting James into a life of turmoil and despair. Throwing himself into his work, the young surgeon eventually begins to find solace in the most unexpected of places. From the backstreets of Paris, through the glittering social
whirl of London and finally back to Ireland again, this is a story of the thorns of love and the harsh reality of life in the eighteenth century, where nothing is simple and complications of all kinds surround James Quinn, man midwife.

The Scarlet Ribbon is available in bookshops and online. www.derryodowd.com

About Michael O'Dowd:

Michael is the current National Chairman of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Ireland.  He has written for various medical publications along with the books,The History of Medications for Women (2001); and with Elliot E Phillip The History of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (1994).

About Katy O'Dowd (Derry):

Katy is an arts and entertainment journalist and has worked for Time Out, Associated Newspapers and Comic Relief and her articles have appeared in The Times (London), Metro (London) and many other arts and entertainment publications, paper and online.

Alongside writing under the pen-name Derry O’Dowd, whose next book she is working on, she writes under her own name. ‘The Lady Astronomer’ will be out with Doctor Fantastique Books in April/May. She is also reviews movies for STUDIO magazine, and is currently co-editing ‘Nasty Snips II’ a horror anthology which will be out with Pendragon Press at Halloween. (Derry is Katy’s middle name)

Katy blogs at www.katyodowd.com

And can be found on twitter @katyod

47 Roses - One Man Show by Peter Sheridan

They say every family has its secrets, and probably Irish families have more secrets than most, including my own, but that's for another post.

Today I want to tell you about one of the best one man shows I've ever had the pleasure of seeing, 47 Roses by Peter Sheridan.

I first became aware of Peter's writing work when a number of years back I read his memoir '44', a tale of Dublin in the 60's. Through this compelling narrative, as the reader, I was brought from childhood to adulthood, experiencing the family 's loss, survival and love.  It was a story told with humour and sadness, bringing to the page that great substance which makes all good story telling worthwhile, a sense that somehow through the reading experience, you get to know the people within it, touching you in a way which will ensure they stay with you for a very long time afterwards.

Later, I picked up a copy of '47 Roses', where Peter is grown up with a family of his own, and the death of his father opens the closet door just enough for the family skeletons to come tumbling out. '47 Roses' is the story of the relationship between his parents, from their first meeting in the 1940's until his father's death, recounted around the figure of Doris, a woman who formed an integral part of the Sheridan household, mostly by letters over five decades, and is a unique opportunity to visit the tale of one man's love for two women, and the joys and sacrifices of a lifetime which this love entailed.

When I decided to go and see Peter's adaptation of 47 Roses for the stage, I had the bar set very high, and I wasn't disappointed.  The stage adaptation is a triumph, not just because it recounts this great story of love, sadness, humour and song, but because it dilutes nothing in the telling.  What you get is the special sense of intimacy and emotion felt when you're introduced to people/characters who come alive within the light and shade of life in a magical way.

Do yourself a favour if you're in Dublin, or even close to it, and take in this show, like the book, it will stay with you for a long time after, and if you don't believe me, read the introduction below, and take in what some rather great voices have to say about it.  

47 Roses by Peter Sheridan

On at the Viking Theatre Clontarf Jan 23–Feb 4 2012 (8pm) - Booking Details below

After two successful runs in Bewleys Café Theatre in 2011, Peter Sheridan returns with his one man show based on his second novel 47 Roses. In it he conjures up the voices, sights and songs of his 1960’s childhood in Dublin, in a powerful coming-of-age story, peopled with deliciously eccentric characters and wonderfully bizarre incidents. By turns, brilliantly funny and intensely moving, this remarkable performance packs a considerable punch – a cultural gem.

Reviews

‘Peter Sheridan writes at the crossroads where hilarity and heartbreak, tenderness and savagery meet.  The people who live there are often cruel, often magnificent, and always, always human.  He captures them perfectly.’

- Roddy Doyle

‘A story so vivid, affecting and lingering that it almost feels like our own.’
 - Irish Times

 'Peter Sheridan has remade the lost world of sixties Dublin in this knock-out memoir, a gently powerful act of memory and love.’  

- Sebastian Barry

'He’s funny, he’s self-deprecating, he’s street-wise, he’s naughty…pure theatre.’
- Sunday Indpendent

Booking Information

Viking Theatre @ the sheds

Connollys - The Sheds
Clontarf
Dublin 3

e-mail: vikingtheatre@dublin.com

Bookings: 087-1129970    

The Viking Theatre at The Sheds is an exciting new venue on the Northside of Dublin.
It is situated upstairs at Connolly’s The Sheds where the Clontarf Road and Vernon Avenue meet to form a thriving social hub for the surrounding area.

The show is also on at RIVERBANK ARTS CENTRE (Main Street,Newbridge) on Thursday 2nd February 2012

 - get details HERE  -

(A Question and Answer session will follow the show at Riverbank)

New Beginnings - Rebecca Emin

I'm delighted to be one of the bloggers who will today feature New Beginnings by Rebecca Emin.

Everything you need about the novel and links to Rebecca's site can be found below.

I think as writers we often have to address difficult subjects, and in this case, Rebecca's novel tells the story of Sam Hendry who needs to overcome something which many of us are sadly only too familiar with, bullying of young children.  

Today is the official publication day of New Beginnings by Rebecca Emin - so please give her lots of support and check it out here! 

Join Rebecca on her blog Ramblings of a Rusty Writer to find all of the details of how she is planning to celebrate today, or you can read some reviews of the book itself on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

You may like to visit some of the other blogs helping Rebecca to celebrate today too.

About New Beginnings

Sam Hendry is not looking forward to starting at her new school. Things go from bad to worse as the day of truth arrives and all of her fears come true... and then some.

When Sam meets a different group of people who immediately accept her as a friend, she begins to feel more positive.

With her new friends and interests, will Sam finally feel able to face the bully who taunts her, and to summon up the courage to perform on stage?

Moving Desk

Being such a celebratory week we decided that apart from the cling, cling of glasses, some momentous change/shift was now required.  You might already know that usually when I write I do so at the place pictured below. 

It is a place which has served me well, apart from when other people, family and friends, decide they want to use the area as well.  So based on the news of the week, and the fact that a more secluded area may now be required for my writing (and hopefully lots of it), myself and hubby popped off to Woodies to get a desk and a few shelves with the view of creating a purpose built office for a budding writer, little old me.

The location was already decided upon, a corner of an upstairs attic room in the old part of our house, by old I mean 200 plus years old.  The room is a very special room, and I have done a post on it before HERE giving some of the history behind it along with before and after renovation shots. 

Anyhow, here is the new dedicated spot where hopefully many wonderful novels and short stories will be created:)

Thought for the Weekend - Sean O'Casey

I'm posting this week's thought for the weekend a little early.  Well it is a kind of special quote, not just because I love Sean O' Casey's work, but because the words are deep, meaningful, and does what all good writing should do - it makes you think.

"Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity."

- Sean O'Casey -

(Btw - thanks to @MoloneyKing on Twitter who put up the quote last week - if you are not following, well darn blast you should do!)