De Profound Us

An anthology of posts, links, and inspiration from M.Phil candidates at the Oscar Wilde Writing Centre, Trinity College Dublin.

[oscarwildecentre]

Readings & music & alcohol, oh my!

Wed 28th May, Workman's Club, Dublin, 7pm onwards.

[oscarwildecentre]

The launch for THE OLD ART OF LYING, a collection of work by students in the Trinity College Dublin's M.Phil. programme in Creative Writing, will take place on Wednesday 28th May, 2014, from 7pm, in The Workman's Club, Dublin. All welcome!

[therumpus]

Rumpus: Could you take us through your selection process? Cogan: Our interns read the submissions first, then the two of us read every manuscript, too. We receive about 150 manuscripts a month, though this year it has been closer to 170 a month. We can only publish about fifty writers a year, so the odds are tough. The selection process can be very time-intensive for us. It’s important we give each manuscript the time that it deserves; sometimes that means that we need to set something aside, and look at it again the next day with fresh eyes. Rumpus: What do you look for in a manuscript? Cogan: What every reader is looking for in a literary experience: to be captivated, to be engaged, surprised and moved. To read something unexpected, and to see something important dealt with on the page. Beyond that, we’re looking for pieces where we can bring our work as editors to bear, and help a manuscript grow from promising to ready. Rumpus: But how do you differentiate promising from just-not-ready? Villalon: Basically, it’s a judgment call—how much time is it going to take for me to “fix” this? A reasonable time, for sitting down and figuring out some structural things here, line edits there. And will the results be successful?

The Rumpus Interview With Laura Cogan And Oscar Villalon of ZYZZYVA (via therumpus)

[millionsmillions]

That’s a particular problem with English people: they seem to think that everyone in Ireland is a writer

Colm Tóibín (via millionsmillions)

[theparisreview]

“One mustn’t be so rigid or egotistical to think that every comma is sacrosanct.”

Edward Albee (via theparisreview)

[oscarwildecentre]

[maxkirin]

[oscarwildecentre]

[oditor]

Tea and Defiance

Sounds right.

[nevver]

Opening lines diagrammed

[bibliophileforrent]

I kind of want a sentence diagram tattoo…

[thetinhouse-deactivated20180604]

Tin House Books would like to officially state our support of sentence diagram tattoos.

[oscarwildecentre]

The denizens of the Oscar Wilde Writing Centre at Trinity College Dublin are going to run out of places to put tattoos.

[oscarwildecentre]

[oscarwildecentre]

25 Quotes That Will Inspire You To Be A Fearless Writer

Because mistakes are the portals of discovery.

[oscarwildecentre]

[oscarwildecentre]

"Opposite of a Thank You" by Erin Fornoff: A rebuke to a mentor who wanted to trade favors for sex. 

"So this is the opposite of a thank-you letter./It's a manifesto for better,/ that we can lift each other up without any strings."

[oscarwildecentre]

“The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.”  Anaïs Nin

[mylittlebookofquotes]

People will kill you over time, and how they’ll kill you is with tiny, harmless phrases, like “be realistic”.

Dylan Moran (via concinnities)

[writingbox]

Writing is like everything else: the more you do it the better you get. Don’t try to perfect as you go along, just get to the end of the damn thing. Accept imperfections. Get it finished and then you can go back. If you try to polish every sentence there’s a chance you’ll never get past the first chapter.

Iain Banks (via karenhealey)