Today I am delighted to welcome poet and writer, Oisin Breen to Books, Life and Everything to talk about his writing life and his debut poetry collection:
FLOWERS, ALL SORTS, IN BLOSSOM,
FIGS, BERRIES, AND FRUITS FORGOTTEN.
Welcome to Books, Life and Everything, Oisin! Would you like to start by telling us a little about
yourself and how you started as a writer?
Whoosh, right, well… I work as a financial journalist
covering the US registered investment advice sector professionally, and I’m
also involved in a PhD project researching the way in which the complex systems
paradigm functions as a means for analysing narrative structure; beyond that,
of course, I’m a writer, and my debut collection was published a month ago.
In
terms of myself more broadly, I’m somewhat of an extrovert, and definitely have
a tonne of odd stories in the cupboard, so to speak; I’m wry, I love to debate
and talk things through till infinity, and I very much loathe piety or the idea
of sacred cows in terms of what can be discussed. Politically, I’m probably
best described as a left leaning pragmatic moderate, which essentially means I
don’t care what the solution is as long as it works.
On writing, well I started
writing as I assume 99% do, as a teenager, and it was a boon that girls liked
poetry, for (again I assume this is true for most writers)
pre-sixteen-year-old-me was about as popular with the ladyfolk as a collection
of preserved insects, but thereafter as we all develop a penchant for writing,
for thinking, talking, drama well… that story tells itself. So yes, I wrote and
wrote and wrote, never stopped.
Beyond that, it’s a fairly conventional tale in
many ways, lots of novels in a cupboard, poems a plenty, and just stuck to it
until it started to work. Even travelled around Europe and the Middle East for
just under two years with a pile of a3 sheets stuck together with tape as a
‘map’ of a novel I was writing. In brief: began (16-21) and was pretty good for
my age I think; started experimenting heavily in writing (21-28ish) so it’s
hugely patchy, some great lines, and some appalling ones; then began to combine
craft with play and it’s developed into my own voice.
When did you first realise you were going to be a writer?
Well I don’t think we really have that many ‘writers’
nowadays, as it’s a bit of a locked-up game, and mostly one based on
connections. The type of world we live in now also makes being a full-time
writer – as in novelist/poet – more or less impossible without a huge slice of
luck. But I always knew I was suited to write, but assumed, as I have done, it
would have to be done in tandem with jobs like teaching/writing journalism or
copy, which is the case with myself. But again, fairly typical.
If you didn’t write,
what would you do for work?
Teach, or perhaps go into financial services. Preferably
teach at a university.
What are you interests apart from writing?
Books, people, chaos, laughter, art-house cinema, theatre,
opera, all that lark.
What is your favorite
childhood book?
Lord of the Rings, I’d guess
Where were you when you heard your first book was going to
be published? How did you celebrate?
The pub, and with a pint.
Tell us three
surprising things about yourself.
I lived in a cave in
Spain, my favourite pub is opposite where Saul fell from his horse to become
Paul, and I don’t like Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
Tell us about your
latest book without giving the plot away.
It’s a selection of three long-form pieces of poetry with a
high stylistic approach, however it is nevertheless hugely dense, and full of
meat for anyone who wishes to find it. It is written deliberately in two ways,
one to be read at pace (you can check out videos, which I’ll happily share);
and one slowly, but in both instances the idea is that it washes over you, and
leaves you with a whole “sense”. It concerns meaning, memory, identity, vice,
guilt, shame, love, and wonder. You’ll find bar-room drunks, eulogizing
laughter, genuine sorrow, compassion, history, religion, basically everything
in a rip-roaring collision of words. Moreover, it works as well with a crowd
who never read, when performed, as with those who obsess. That said, a very
particular kind of old-guard who seem to have been transplanted from 1860 --
albeit with a postmodern twist in that they think poems about
coca-cola/lucozade are a lark -- those who advocate nothing but the sonnet,
well they won’t like the work.
How did you plan to
spend publication day?
I drank plenty of whiskey.
What are your
writing routines and where do you do most of your writing?
At home & in coffee shops and bars, like most do. The
routines well I write for work so I don’t always have creative time, but at
least once a week, if not twice, a few hours, but then when the moment is ready
and the work is ready, I’ll just write for a few days in a row, get it done,
ignore it, come back to it weeks later and edit it.
How do you go
about researching detail and ensuring your books are realistic?
Same as we all do, libraries & Google.
Were there any parts you had to edit out of your book which
you still hanker after?
Always are.
Are there any secret references hidden in your books?
Millions. No one has yet found the finger-print part that is
actually quite integral to the first section… There’s tonnes. Though I’m
attached to a hidden shopping trolley in the River Liffey in the second poem of
the book. One or two have spotted it.
Do you have any
guilty pleasures which stop/ help you write?
Reading, and the odd-spot of sci-fi TV.
Does writing
energize or exhaust you?
Both
Do you or have you
ever considered writing under a pseudonym?
Nope, nor would I.
Do you have any
other writers as friends and how do they influence your writing?
Yep, and not very much, though they’re helpful when you’re
down to the final editing and looking at a couple of words you’re uncertain of.
If you could tell
your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Stop trying to make so many damn political points, just let
the words be what they are.
Do you believe in
writer’s block? What do you do to break its spell?
Nope. And just write more.
Can you give any hints about any upcoming books you have
planned?
Hmmm… there’s definitely a few novels I’ll get around to,
lots that while two soaked in the juvenelia aspect to cohere as they are,
definitely still have legs. In terms of the next book, however, it will again
be poetry, similar in form, but on different themes. One, perhaps two are
already written, the third is waiting to come, though it’s coming together. The
first of the set, I can definitely talk about, and it’s based on the fact that
my oldest friend lost his mother relatively recently, and he was impressive in
how he dealt with it, inspiring actually how he genuinely did find joy in
letting her go in the best way possible, however when the curtain fell, damned
if he didn’t cleave in two, and it was horrible and sad, but also one of the
most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’d wager I’ve seen a lot
of beauty. So the poem itself combines this moment, a retelling of the myth of
Etain, the life of the mother as girl in her mid-twenties, a changing of myth
to allow one of the minor characters to become capable of leaving himself separated
in time as an observer, a passionate kiss scene, and a recollection of love…
The fun part of all this, beyond its meaning, density, and style, is that it is
deliberately written so that absolutely every single character or voice within
the poem can be the narrator, but there is only one narrator. A bit of an
experiment that, but I actually think it works rather well.
Thanks for stopping by, Oisin and good luck with the writing!
You can also watch the book launch of his poetry collection and listen to a live reading of the book here
Comments
Post a Comment