Darragh Ó Bradáin

I took a break from Lessons in Absence for about ten days. During this time, I didn’t step back from writing, I was working on two other projects. One of them was the now-completed manuscript for The One-Legged Head, a children’s book. The other was a short story for entry to the Frazzled Lit Short Story Award 2026. This was my first time entering a writing competition. I’m keeping my expectations low, not because I think my story was bad, but because I wrote for a specific purpose. I didn’t write to win, I wrote to write. The competition itself was just a reason to do so, and to try my hand at a short story.

Back to the novel. I resumed work on it yesterday, and I realised that there’s a reason I like this story. Obviously, I’m writing it so I must like it, but when I write about the main character, Seán, I get a real thrill. I’m not writing a version of myself, but there are some traits we share. I really love building his world, his interactions, examining his difficulties and seeing what direction he’ll go to overcome them, if he does at all. It’s exciting!

I’m just under 10,000 words at the moment. I’m hoping to work on it every day for the next week or two and double that word count at the very least, as well as show some real progression. As a writer starting out, I’m trying to resist the temptation to bloat the story with filler material. Every sentence must serve a purpose. Most of the book is written in the first person, and I’m trying to make sure that the world Seán sees remains his authentic voice.

When I started out, I overdid the filler material. Every scene was described as if it came from a voiceover from a private eye film noir movies. I spotted this in the first chapter when I reread it and ended up reading it in that sort of voice. What I’m learning is that I should trust the dialogue, and trust the reader.