Lessons in Absence is a literary novel set in Cork, following a young primary school teacher, Seán Cronin, as he struggles to navigate the pressures of school life, loneliness, grief, and human connection. Through ordinary routines, quiet moments, and the lives of those around him, including the children in his class and the families in his community, the novel explores what it means to feel present in the world while carrying an enduring sense of absence.
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Finishing the first act
As I’m writing this post, I’m taking a quick break from writing the final scene in the first act of Lessons in Absence. I’ve written the opening, and the rest of what will become the scene will wrap up the first third of a project I toyed with the idea of just over ten years…
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Creating an unplanned character; earned moments
One of the things I’ve loved so far in the process of writing “Lessons in Absence” is when a new character comes to me. Before I started, I had the bones of the story. I knew the beginning, middle, and end. I had imagined what the main character, Seán, would have to deal with and…
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Working on other projects
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…
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Beginning the journey
I had the idea for this novel over ten years ago. I put together the rough idea, wrote a prologue, and promptly forgot about it until I did a routine clear-out of old computers files. I read everything I had written and thought to myself this could actually become something, so I downloaded Scrivener and…
Darragh Ó Bradáin 