Discussing His Work To Date And Life As A Children/YA Writer
Hi Kieran, nice to have you on board! We had the pleasure to review ‘The Arrival’ a while ago and our team was very impressed with it, but that’s not your only book nor the latest. Can you tell us something about your previous work?
My first four books were a series of interactive puzzle adventures for kids, in which the reader had to help junior detectives, Sam and Lisa, solve a mystery by working out the answers to puzzles. These answers directed the reader to the next page of the story. These books were very much inspired by the Choose Your Own Adventure books and game-books I read as a child.
My next book is called The Black Lotus, a time travel adventure about kids with superpowers who train as ninjas to defeat a powerful samurai overlord. The book was turned into an audiobook and also translated into German.
Irish Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends comes next. It is a collection of retellings of old Irish folk and fairy tales.
My most recent book is called The Arrival. It is a supernatural adventure for older children and young teens about the discovery of a mysterious artefact that leads to the arrival of an unusual child. Has he been sent from God? Is he an alien? Or is he something else?
Let’s talk about your latest book, ‘Haunted Ireland’. What’s the book about and what are its USPs?
The book is a collection of retellings of Irish ghost stories, beautifully illustrated by Mark Hill. It’s USP is that there is a story from every county in Ireland. The book even has a map so that you can do your own road trip of haunted Ireland.
When did you start writing and how did you realise young adults were your ideal audience?
I started writing 25 years ago because I’d loved writing as a kid. I still have two books that I wrote as a child. Why do I write for children? Maybe it’s because I never really grew up, or maybe it’s because I love the magic of children’s literature. You can do crazy things in this genre that you can’t in many others. The children’s and teen market are my main focus and I’ve no plans to expand into other areas at the moment.
What are your creative plans for the future?
I just want to keep writing, keep telling stories and hopefully, keep publishing.
Tell us a little about yourself… do you have any formal qualifications in the creative industries or did you polish your skill mostly through practice and peer review?
I have a master’s in children’s literature but that is of an academic nature. I don’t have any formal qualifications in creative writing. I guess I learned the craft through practice, and as you say, from receiving critiques from my peers. It’s a long process, but probably the best route, in my opinion.
What are your thoughts on the current writing industry? With the “self-publishing revolution” a lot of people started publishing independently, but along with some hidden gems we find there is also poor quality work out there. What is your opinion and why did you choose self-publishing?
Until recently, traditional publishers have been the gatekeepers to publishing but with the accessibility of self-publishing, now there are no barriers to publication. This is both a good and a bad thing. It’s good, in that writers get to decide what gets published. It’s bad in that now, any old thing can be published. And there is a lot of trash out there, which gives self-publishing a bad name. On the other hand, there’s a lot of great stuff out there, too. The problem is finding it in this hugely crowded market.
Based on your experience as a writer, what do you think of the following: traditional publishing or self-publishing?
I have enjoyed my foray into the self-publishing world, savouring the freedom to publish a story that doesn’t fit into the marketing parameters of traditional publishing houses, enjoying designing my own cover etc. The problem I have found is sales. You have to devote so much time and money to advertising and promotion, that it is difficult to sell unless you already have a following. When I see how well the publishers of my current book have marketed it, getting it into every bookstore in the country and getting me radio and newspaper interviews, my preference will always be traditional publishing.
Being a writer also means being a reader. What are you reading currently? And what book you couldn’t finish no matter what?
My current read is an excellent children’s book called The Last Boy by Eve McDonnell and Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I try to finish most books I start but I remember giving up on Catch 22 and Dune but when a book doesn’t appeal to me, I often think it’s more to do with me than the book. Sometimes I’m not in the right frame of mind for a particular book. I find that I enjoy books more when I’m on holidays because I can devote the time to appreciate them.
Do you have a favourite author?
I have many. In terms of children’s books, I love Philip Pullman, Patrick Ness, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Robert Cormier and Sinéad O’ Hart. My favourite writers for adults are all mainly Irish: William Trevor, Donal Ryan, Joseph O’ Connor and Emma Donoghue. Recently, I loved Kala by Colin Walsh and The Bee Sting by Paul Murray.
If you could choose only 3 books to take with you on a desert island, what would they be and why?
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is the most imaginative, absorbing and clever fantasy; you could lose yourself in it for days. Room by Emma Donoghue captures the voice of a child so well that I think it is a masterpiece. The third book I’d bring would be a large empty notebook, because I am a writer after all, and I bet that island has some stories!
How does your “typical” writing day look like (if you have one, that is)?
My typical writing day begins in the early hours of the morning, often 4am or 5am, when I will write until I have to go to work as a teacher. I often do a little editing in the evenings. I’m pretty happy with this way of working, so I guess it is ideal for me.
Any final words of advice?
Thank you for interviewing me and supporting my work. Keep reading, keep writing, keep publishing and persevere through the rejections. Make art and be happy.
For more information on Kieran’s work to date, visit his website and Amazon Page. You can also follow him on Twitter or Instagram.
