With Roddy Doyle as a mentor, Fighting Words is a place where students of all ages can develop their love of creative writing, writes PETER McGUIRE
EVERY TUESDAY afternoon, Fighting Words has been vibrating with the energy of a dynamic work in progress. In one corner, a group of students from Larkin Community College are huddled with a volunteer writer, fine-tuning their stories. Behind them, a girl works in rapt silence with Roddy Doyle, who co-founded the centre. Opposite, a group of TY boys are loudly chatting about their story. What will stay in, and what must come out?
The following week, Roddy Doyle reminds them, is “D-day”. This is when, after months of development, writing, and editing, the 25 TY students will submit the final draft of their story. The book, due to be published later this year, will contain a foreword from author Hugo Hamilton. It’s the first time that Fighting Words has taken on such a project but, according to co-founder and director Sean Love, it won’t be the last. “We’re hoping to work with a Transition Year group every year to produce a book,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be short stories; next time we might look at plays, or film scripts.”
Fighting Words was born when Roddy Doyle was inspired by 826 Valencia, a similar project in San Francisco that helps young people to develop their writing skills. Doyle and Love secured a site on Behan Square, the site of Brendan Behan’s family home just off Russell Street in Dublin’s north inner city. After consulting with builder and philanthropist Mick Wallace, the Fighting Words centre was purpose-built to inspire creativity.
The building is charming: a bright, open and airy space that naturally invites visitors in and encourages them to stay. There are places to work alone, places to work together, and imaginative touches such as the rotating bookcase that flips around to open onto the main room. Managing to be absorbing without being remotely oppressive, it’s the perfect environment to encourage creativity.
CAROLINE HEFFERNANis a volunteer at Fighting Words and has been working with Larkin students Carlos Donovan, Dillon Burke and Kevin Kearney.
“We’ve built up a good rapport and come to know each other,” she says. “Sometimes the students will ask me to do something for them, such as changing a paragraph, but I’m here to help them and advise them on how they can do it themselves.”
Carlos is writing a story about football. “It’s not just about football, it’s about what has happened in my life,” he says. “I’d never written before, but it’s great to be working with the volunteers. And Roddy Doyle, he helps us every week and gives us advice. He spends ages with us, and we learned a lot.”
Student Natalina Marcella’s story has been influenced by a mixture of her experience of the world around her and events that have happened to people she knows. “It’s about two best friends who go away on holidays, and the story explores what they think and how they perceive people around them,” she explains. “One friend starts to get jealous of the other, and rumours start which lead to a fight.”
Volunteer Helen Seymour, a budding writer who has worked closely with Natalina and her classmates Amanda Miller and Rebecca Heary, has spent the afternoon with the girls, advising them on the editing process, and they’re tantalisingly close to completion.
“I gave up my job in advertising and started work as a waitress so I’d have time to write,” Seymour says. “After coming out of the ad industry, I wanted to give something back and felt this was ideal. It’s getting more intense as we approach the end point, but it’s hugely enjoyable and very rewarding.”
Roddy Doyle, like many of the centre’s volunteers, is inspired by Fighting Words and the Larkin project. “I find it exhilarating,” he says. “It reminds you of why you started writing yourself. It’s not an exam, there’s no marks, it’s open and creative, and the students have a sense of ownership over the project.
“We like the idea of people writing, getting started and enjoying it, and then wondering about it and coming back. Then, editing it and seeing what works and what doesn’t, rather than being told, ‘you do this, you do this, this, this and this.’ Ultimately, I see the place as an invitation to write and be creative. ”
fightingwords.ie
