Thanks to Stories at the Duncairn there’s a free flash fiction workshop with me, August 6th. 20 places. Be quick!
creative writing
Teaching at John Hewitt Summer School
Short Story Workshop: Write Short Stories that Stand Out
3 x two-hour workshop sessions
Workshop Description
In this course you will find out what competition judges, anthology and journal editors look for in a short story. You will get tips on where to start the action and how to grab the reader. You will also look at submission opportunities, how to find them and where you should be sending your stories.
Workshop Dates
This workshop will be hosted in the Marketplace Theatre, Armagh on the following dates. Your £66 fee covers all three workshop sessions.
- Monday 26th July 2021, 1430hrs to 1630hrs
- Tuesday 27th July 2021, 1430hrs to 1630hrs
- Thursday 29th July 2021, 1430hrs to 1630hrs
The Good Son: Won The Polari Prize & The McCrea Literary Award
“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.” Donal Ryan
My Writing Masterclass for BBC Radio
Writing Masterclass
‘Belfast writer Paul McVeigh tells us how to write a good story’
This is a short video I made for BBC Radio to help budding writers out there. It includes my advice on best writing books and where to begin. I hope you enjoy it.
“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan
Teaching My First Class in Dublin
DATE AND TIME
Sat 13 October 2018 10:30am – 4:30pm
LOCATION
You’ll find out what competition judges and journal editors look for in a short story and how to avoid the rejection pile. You’ll write a short piece and get feedback on that crucial story opening. In a form where every word counts, get tips on staying focused on your story and where to start the action. You’ll also look at submission opportunities; how to find them and where you should be sending your stories.
Focus:
How to get the attention of competition judges and editors
Writing fiction with emotional impact
Writing that killer first page
How to edit your story
Where to send your work
Paul McVeigh’s short fiction has been published in anthologies and journals inc. The Stinging Fly and Faber’s ‘Modern Irish Writing’. Stories have been commissioned by BBC Radio 3, 4 & 5 and Sky Arts TV. He was shortlisted for Irish Short Story of the Year 2017 at the Irish Book Awards. His short story blog shares writing opportunities and advice and gets 40,000 hits a month and has had over 2 million views. He’s interviewed short story masters like Kevin Barry, Elizabeth McCracken and George Saunders for The Irish Times. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s national centre for excellence in the short story. He is a reader and judge for national and international short story competitions including, in 2018, the Sean O’Faolain Prize, the Edge Hill Prize and the International Dylan Thomas Prize. He is also the current fiction editor at Southword Journal where he recently commissioned Kit de Waal and twice Booker shortlisted Deborah Levy.
This event sold out in Adelaide, Bali, Bath, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Kuala Lumpur, Lancaster, London, Melbourne & Singapore.
“I emerged from the sleepy hamlet of my writing infancy last Saturday and was sky-rocketed, hurricaned, tsunamied, autobahned and g-forced out of my head by Paul McVeigh’s “That Killer First Page” Masterclass at Waterstones, Piccadilly. He’s on top of his game, gives instinctive, constructive criticism and in a few short hours, had conveyed the essence of how to make a story compelling and unputdownable from the first few lines. Get on one of his courses if you can.”
Reviews for his short stories:
“Beautiful and very moving.” Booker shortlisted Alison Moore
“How moving and stunning that story is. It’s so raw and incredibly human.” Costa shortlisted Jess Richards
“(one of) Ireland’s most exciting and talented writers. Incredibly moving; poignant but utterly real, funny and beautifully observant.” BBC Radio 4
“Paul McVeigh’s story stands out. Funny, moving, poignant. Brilliant.” Metro Newspaper
Paul’s debut novel The Good Son’ won 2 awards and was shortlisted for a further 5.
‘A work of genius…’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Robert Olen Butler
“Both dancing and disquieting, complex and vivid, I devoured it in a day, but I’ve thought about it for many, many more.” Bailey Prize-winner Lisa McInerney The Glorious Heresies’
‘A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.’ Donal Ryan
National Flash-Fiction Day: Writing Workshop
National Flash-Fiction Day: Writing Workshop
Do you like your fiction short? Then flash-fiction is for you.
Writer Paul McVeigh will lead a class in celebration of the flash-fiction form. Come along and hear some great examples and try writing one yourself.
7 – 9 pm, Tuesday 28th June
Duncairn Centre for Culture & Arts
cnr Antrim Rd and Duncairn Ave
Belfast BT14 6BP
This workshop is free but booking is essential as places are limited.
Please phone the Duncairn Centre for Culture and Arts on 028 9074 7114 or email: marnie.kennedy@sky.com
‘Those Killer First Chapters’ London, Feb 6
I’m teaching a new class. Here’s the details. I hope to see some of you there.
Those Killer First Chapters – Getting the attention of agents and editors
Waterstones Piccadilly, Saturday, 6 February 2016 from 10:00 to 17:00.
Focus:
How to launch your novel
What a first chapter tells us
Writing fiction with emotional impact
How to show AND tell
Talking to your reader
Using Dialogue
Getting the attention of agents & editors
About Paul
Paul McVeigh’s debut novel ‘The Good Son’ was shortlisted for The Guardian’s ‘Not the Booker Prize’. It was a Gransnet Christmas read, Wales Arts Review Pick of the Year and one of ELLE Magazine’s Books of 2015 alongside Anne Enright and Ali Smith. This debut novel is on its second print, the audio book is about to be released and rights have been sold to France and Germany.
Paul’s short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies and been commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and read on Radio 5. He is co-founder of London Short Story Festival and Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s leading short story literary salon. He is also been a reader and judge for national and international writing competitions. Currently, he’s judging The Penny Dreadful Novella Prize alongside Guardian First Book Award-winner Colin Barrett and Costa shortlisted Sara Baume,
Reviews:
“Heartbreaking, gripping” The Guardian – “Excellent” The Independent – “Funny, moving, poignant. Brilliant.” Metro
“Darkly hilarious. One of the most charming and edearing characters I’ve come across in a long while.” ELLE Magazine
“Funny, shot through with streaks of aching sadness.” Patrick Gale
“A work of genius from a splendid writer.” Pulizter Prize-winning short story writer Robert Olen Butler.
“Absolutely loved it. The voice of that story so arresting.” Jackie Kay
“Beautiful and very moving.” Booker shortlisted Alison Moore
“(one of) Ireland’s most exciting and talented writers. Incredibly moving; poignant but utterly real, funny and beautifully observant.” BBC Radio
Paul’s ‘That Killer First Page’ class on submitting short stories to journals and competitions has sold out in Bath, Belfast, Brighton, Cork, London and Melbourne.
Comments on Paul’s classes:
“Practical, insightful application of knowledge to writing.”
“Fantastic! Practical, targeted advice like this is wonderful!”
“This was my fav course yet! Informative, entertaining, and engaging. Hard to beat!”
Places are limited. Book here.
*For concessions please contact Paul paulmcveighwriter@live.co.uk
17 August 2014, London
Missed My Sold Out Class in Bath? Try Brighton Oct 10.
‘That Killer First Page’, my class on the short story, has now sold out in Bath on Oct 17. It’s been quite a run… sold out in Belfast, Cork, Waterstones Piccadilly and Writers Victoria, Melbourne, where it broke records by selling out in 20 minutes!
If you missed your chance in Bath you could always try Brighton. I’ll be teaching the class for New Writing South writer development agency on October 10. Click here to find out more.
Don’t forget I’m judging the Penny Dreadful Novella Prize alongside Sarah Baume and Colin Barrett and am the sole judge of the Bare Fiction Short Story Prize.
Cate Kennedy Interview
Cate Kennedy and me at the International Conference on the Short Story in Vienna.
I interviewed the wonderful Australian author Cate Kennedy in Australia. Here’s Just one of the amazing things she had to say about writing… “My problem with having any kind of creative life was that I was a hoarder. I was a hoarder with my own assets. A miserly little person who had this wallet of ideas and I would count them every morning and dole out one for this thing or that. I was a miser. And that is nothing but grief, down that path. The amazing thing that happens when you spend it all, when you put everything you’ve got into that next story, everything you’re hanging on to, make it the best thing you can do, don’t worry that you’ve got nothing else to save, because tomorrow, when you wake up, like a well, it’s rising from beneath. Better ideas. Better currencies. Better things than you’ve been hoarding in that little purse of yours. Don’t be a miser. Be profligate. Spend it all. That was a gigantic turning point for me. That made me realise I really wanted to do this. and I wanted to do it even if it meant self-publishing and getting a blanket on the ground and giving it away.” Read the full interview here…
Readings and Workshops In Northern Ireland
I’m coming home to Northern Ireland for the Aperture Festival 29th July to August 2nd in Ballycastle. I’ll be giving a reading Sat night. I’m taking part in some panels and giving a class there on Saturday 1st on creative writing.
The following week I’m in Belfast and will give 2 classes at Crescent Arts Centre That Killer First Page and Social Media for Writers. Click to see more about each class and if you’d like to do both, contact me for a discount.
That Killer First Page has sold out in Melbourne, London and Cork. The course helps writers get an insight into what competition judges and editors look for in a short story. This year I’m judging 3 competitions in UK and Ireland.
Social Media for Writers gives my personal experience of using social media and blogging to create and grow a public profile and to generate paid work. My blog is getting 40,000 hits a month and has had over 900,000 visitors.
I hope to see some of you there.
Paul McVeigh 