KIERAN SHEA: Slashing

BIO

KIERAN SHEA’s fiction has appeared in dozens of venues including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Thuglit, Dogmatika, Word Riot, Plots with Guns, Beat to a Pulp, Crimefactory, and Needle: A Magazine of Noir ...as well as in some beefy-looking anthologies most of which will make you question the tether of his shiny, red balloon. To his self-deprecating astonishment he's also been nominated for the Story South’s Million Writers Award twice without sending the judges so much as a thank you note. He co-edited the satiric transgressive fiction collection D*CKED: DARK FICTION INSPIRED BY DICK CHENEY and his debut novel KOKO TAKES A HOLIDAY is out now from Titan Books. Kieran divides his time between 38°58′22.6″N- 76°30′4.17″W and 39.2775° N, 74.5750° W.

7/7/09

Slashing

One of the things that seem to be the hardest for writers to master is the ability to slash away the excess. I've grown comfortable with this. I used to save large chunks of writing that I whittled away, thinking I'd use them in some future section or story. Then I wised up and kissed the trimmings goodbye. Takes faith sometimes, but I remind myself to JUST TELL THE DAMN STORY. Question: How much have you sent to the round file? And that guy on the left, that's me doing the safety dance.