Armagh Project 2015

During my time at the John Hewitt International Summer School, the instructor has given me a couple prompts so far. Two of them, one being an interview for a protagonist (or any character, really), and another being to write about Armagh from the perspective of two different characters; an old spy on the run, and a bride to be. The first one takes a little too long for my taste, but the second was good fun. Flipping from two perspectives is a thing that’s common in crime novels, as it helps to increase suspense in dramatic scenes by leaving someone in a pinch hanging.

At first, I was a bit iffy about my poetry group with Niall Campbell, not just because the people in the “class” seem to have more experience with poetry than I do, but because my own poetry seems very out of place. Don’t get me wrong, the beauty of the works we look are unquestionable and I typically like to write in imitation of such delicacy as much as I can, but it seems to me that these wizened elders at the table with me are able to pull high degree artistry right out their bums. I spotted Niall Campbell at the Hole in the Wall last eve and was very tempted to strike up a drunken conversation, but I promptly decided against it.

As for the presentation, THANK GOD IT’S BEEN DONE!!! I’ve never been one for performing in front of any audience, large or small, so getting through such a feat takes quite a load off my slumped shoulders. I was a little perturbed afterwards, though; I think certain people in the crowd overlooked the detail that I was acting when I went up as James from Jeff’s play. The first man to approach me as we walked out to the reception said some incomprehensible words, but I think I heard, “I’ll let it slide, but watch yourself, boy.” Phew.

THE SHOWCASE WAS AWESOME. That is all. ❤️ Oh and we wrote some monologues in scriptwriting class.

The first day of the Hewitt Festival was nice. I use “nice” as a blanket to best describe everything. The presentation by Lord Steel, felt mostly like a propaganda moment to promote him as an official. The Ian Sanderson reading was rather amazing: loose in the term of “reading” but his presentation was wonderful and his poems were very inspiring. He has been working on a series of books that will take place in every historic county in England, focusing on a travel writer who will have to solve various crimes and murders as he writes on each county. Sanderson draws from his childhood for his writing. His recent book “Murder in Devonshire” takes items from his holidays in his youth around the area. Lastly, the workshop I am taking, scriptwriting, has been mostly the same as what I’ve done for my play this month. We started with character building, and as usual in a timed, forced-writing environment I didn’t get much from the creative juices.

The First day of the John Hewitt Society International Summer School was both inspiring and very encouraging. Ian Sansom was absolutely brilliant and was the perfect way to start off the week! I am in the short story workshop and feel privileged to sit beside published authors such as June Caldwell. I can’t wait to continue the week and take in as much information as possible.

In honesty, much of Lord Steele’s speech was difficult to understand because I have no background knowledge on Scotland. But, the things he wanted to reform within their parliament sounded really interesting. My favorite part was when Malachi stood up and asked a long winded question that basically meant “that’s nice, but you can’t actually do any of what you just said.” Journalists in this country have so much freedom to say what they want to say. An American reporter would never be so bold.

My workshop so far seems like it will be a fun experience. I’m hoping that I can take one or two things out of what the teacher says about Crime Fiction and apply it to my articles. I also may write a short story for it. Writing for fun will be a huge change of pace for me.

“We’re all exactly the same when are in front of a blank page.” – Siobhan Campbell

It’s time for the John Hewitt Festival!!! The moment we have been all waiting for, the opportunity to meet groovy deep thinkers, politicians, and the coolest people that make up the Irish/UK writing community. The poetry workshop with Siobhan Campbell was by far the highlight of the day. Being able to learn about the form from a poet that I enjoy and respect, while working alongside published, brilliant authors. I am all eyes and ears and cannot wait to learn more. The wait was well worth it.

The first day of the John Hewitt Society International Summer School was a success! It was interesting to hear the blend of politics and creativity come together in an opening lecture by Lord Steele. In all actuality, my favorite part of the lecture was the open forum toward the end that provided some very voluptuous responses from the crowd.

I really enjoyed not only my fiction workshop, but the texts provided, the group of students and over all style. I can’t wait to continue my creative writing workshop through the rest of the festival. We’ll present our work tomorrow! Can’t wait!

Today the scriptwriting workshop started off with a discussion of Aristotle and his assertion that all plays contain six basic elements:

1. Plot
2. Character
3. Diction
4. Thought
5. Spectacle
6. Song

We also started creating characters, though we didn’t have enough time to present them all. Jeff said afterwards that my story reminded him of Bioshock. Perhaps I should actually finish that game. 😀