“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

“I’ve Been Writing In My Car / It’s Not Quite A Jaguar …”

Actually, for all I know Ava McCarthy does drive a Jag. That’d certainly make the whole writing-in-the-car malarkey a little more comfortable. To wit:
Ava’s unorthodox approach to writing knocks JK Rowling’s tale of writing her first novel in a café into a cocked hat: “I was determined not to impact on family life, so I used to get up really early in the morning, drive into work and sit outside my office for two hours in the car with the laptop on my knees and the heater blowing.
  “The car is a super place to work. There’s no fridge, no kettle, no housework ... you just focus. For book two, I’ve been trying to work in the house, but I find myself being drawn to the car. The neighbours think I’m mad.”
  For the rest, clickety-click here ...
  Over to you, folks. Where’s the barmiest place you’ve ever written?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm awfully conventional for a witch. But I have heard that laptops are a godsend for those who like writing on the toilet.

Anonymous said...

the hotpress once

BB said...

In the washroom of the local heritage centre while my kids were at their chess class in the room outside. I can still smell the washing powder.

Declan Burke said...

I finished 'The Big O' in an alleyway outside our apartment on the Sicilian island of Lipari, early in the morning while my good wife-to-be slumbered inside, with ripe oranges falling from the tree overhead to rot on the paving stones. When the sun got high enough to pour down the alleyway, I'd pack it in for the day.