Filth On The Radio
November 13th, 2007A few weeks ago, I submitted a story to the Francis MacManus RTÉ Radio 1 Short Story Competition. I have never entered a writing competition before, so even posting a hard copy of my story away was strangely satisfying. As mentioned previously, I have recently finished the third of three creative writing courses, and now find myself without a weekly deadline for both reading and writing (I struggle with self motivation), so this competition proved to be a useful exercise in editing, and provided a much needed deadline.
The courses (Beginners Creative Writing, Intermediate and Advanced) were run by the Irish Writers Centre on Parnell Square. I would highly recommend them to any would-be writers, especially if the short story and essay formats interest you. There are also other courses tailored to suit those more interested in the novel, poetry, travel writing etc.
While the course is called “Creative Writing”, in reality, it is as much about reading as writing. Each week you are expected to read two or three classic pieces, by a wide variety of both modern and long-dead writers. These are then discussed in class the next week, from a writer’s point of view, in the hope that they will enlighten and inspire. For someone as poorly-read as I am, this was a fantastic eye opener. Over the three ten-week courses, I have been introduced to the work of at least fifty authors, most of which I had never read, and probably never would have read. Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Chekhov, Gogol, Kafka, Woolfe, Barry Hannah, Denis Johnson, Thom Jones, Bukowski, Dillard, Beckett, Cioran, Tim O’Brien, Mansfield, etc etc etc. A shameful admission? Or, more probably, just literary ignorance on my part. Anyway, some of them I loved, some I liked, some I appreciated, some I didn’t like at all. And it’s not even that I was reading rubbish before that either, I just wasn’t reading much at all.
So, yes, I’ve submitted my story Heartbreak on the Weighbridge - a tale of paranoia and playfulness set in a barley mill. There are some nice cash prizes, plus the winners and some of the shortlisted stories get aired on RTÉ. Happily, I’m not quite deluded enough to expect to be shortlisted, but I look forward to seeing the results in the new year.
A friend and I were helping each other with some last minute proof-reading/editing for the competition, and while running through the rules and regulations, we wondered if foul language was appropriate for a radio competition. Would our stories get binned at the first sight of a BAD word? The guidelines for the competitions stated that the piece “should be written for radio”, but what does that mean? In the end, instead of perhaps asking the organisers for clarification, I just submitted the piece in its original, semi-foul-language-smattered, form. Fuck them. I’d like to hear more filth on the radio.
