How Louise O’Neill found her voice as a young author

Finding the courage to start writing is often the biggest challenge says acclaimed new author, Louise O’Neill, a judge in Eason’s short story competition for secondary school pupils.

WHILE I was writing my debut novel, Only Ever Yours, I was determined to make the voice of the main character, a 16-year old girl, as authentic as possible. So I unearthed a pile of my teenage diaries from a dark corner in the attic, wiping off the dust that was growing on them like furring mould.

The detail in the diary was excruciatingly specific, describing what I wore to this disco, what boy I kissed, what girl I hated and called a ‘slut’. (This was because I felt she was prettier than I was, or had attracted the attention of whatever 14-year-old boy I was lusting after that week.)