Meet Peter Murphy, Travel Writer and Contributor to Murphy’s Law, Digital Global Traveler, and The Red Beach In Paradise
Greetings, dear writers!
Meet Peter Murphy, the sensorial writer whose tales ignite your senses and transport you from the famous cliffs of Ireland to the bustling alleys of Anatolia.
Now, amidst the exotic aromas of the Orient, he invites you to join his latest adventures through his travel blog and upcoming eBook projects, illustrated by his talented brother.
Prepare for a journey where “chaos is a jetpack”, propelling you into realms unknown.
Warm regards,
Julia Kalman
https://theredbeachblog.wordpress.com/
Motto (if any): Chaos isn’t a ladder, it’s a jetpack.
1. That Special Moment
One fine day, you started writing poems/stories. How did it happen exactly?
I was on the Island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
After being homeless for a few weeks, I got a job at a language course.
Luckily, the owner of the course offered me shelter in the school’s attic.
As the months rolled by, I found myself forgetting certain chapters in my life and didn’t want to forget the one I was living, so I took out a notepad and started writing.
I had no TV, phone, or internet so it helped pass the time.
2. Art Is Work
What does your work as a writer consist of? What are the biggest challenges of the present?
Interesting… I’m not sure.
On Medium, I often ask myself ‘How much of myself should I give away and for how much?’
3. Without Projects, There Is No Future
What are your representative projects? What projects are you working on?
I’m working on turning my travel pieces, which you can find in the Digital Global Traveler publication, into an E-book.
I suppose it’s a natural progression to try and give the stories a second shot at life.
I am also working on a screenplay with my brother which has been a learning experience all on its own.
4. The Scent of Creation
Describe a scent that immediately transports you to a moment of inspiration or creativity. What emotions does it evoke, and how does it influence your creative process?
Cigarettes and dead goat flesh peppered with a whiff of boiled sugar on a sticky Turkish night.
5. Ink and Intimacy
If your writing style were a tactile experience, what texture would it be?
Have you run your fingers along the rough-hewn stone, like that of an old gravestone or the foundation block of an old castle?
You may feel smooth edges at times, but it’s mostly withered and rough.
You know other people have run their hands along it, too and you wonder how much of the weariness is due to the passage of time or human interaction.
How does the act of putting the pen on paper or fingers on the keyboard make you feel, at a deeply personal level?
The act of putting pen to paper?
Anything involving memory can evoke certain emotions. I don’t always want to be transported back.
I try to use different voices in some true-to-life telling just so I can keep the world from the door, so to speak.
https://theredbeachblog.wordpress.com/
6. The Harmony of Silence
Think about a moment when silence spoke louder than words in your creative journey. What were the circumstances, and how did it shape your understanding of your craft?
I crave silence, but when I get it, I tend to turn up the music.
Neither silence nor noise has played any real part. I suppose on the Island, there were months when I was alone and I felt it was healthier to talk to the page.
7. The Palette of Dreams
Imagine your creative mind as a painter’s palette. What colors dominate your artistic spectrum, and how do they represent the different facets of your imagination?
It depends on what I’m writing about.
If it’s about Ireland there’s a solid, wet gray dotted with lush green and moody blues.
If I write about Anatolia, there’s a fiery orange to the words.
The island, naturally has greens, blues… it’s earthy but there’s always a smokiness to it.
8. The Quill of Vulnerability
If your creative expression were a handwritten letter to your inner self, what truths and vulnerabilities would it unveil? How does the act of exposing your innermost thoughts contribute to your artistic identity?
There would be an admission of unidentified guilt and longing for something that I was never meant to be in the first place.
I suppose it tells me that maybe I was right to “run away” from all that, but there’s still a gnawing feeling that you might have let everyone down.
It’s a difficult question to answer truthfully.
Artistic Identity?
I hope it’s one of raw honesty but I also want the reader to question whether anything of what they read is real.
If a reader reads to the end, likes it but then tells me that they don’t believe a word, I’ve done my job.
9. Symphony of Shadows
Consider a character or theme in your work that embodies the shadows of your own psyche. What does this shadow teach you about your fears, desires, or unexplored dimensions of your creativity?
Is that the case?
When I first started writing about things that had happened to me or experienced, I used a character named ‘Jack’ to take the hits on my behalf.
It kept a lot of baggage at arm’s length.
As I wrote more through this guy’s voice, I realized that there was a part of me that would have done many little aspects of my life differently but overall, I would have done the important parts the same.
It doesn’t teach us anything new in my opinion, just that we all have them.
It taught me that I was on the right track.
10. Echoes of Childhood Whispers
Recall a childhood memory that resonates with you as a writer. How do the echoes of your early experiences manifest in your work today?
As a family, we unexpectedly immigrated to America in the 90s.
I’m sure my parents informed my brother and me, but on the morning we were to leave Ireland, it was still an unexpected and confusing shock.
The same thing happened when we left America two years later after forming friendships and bonds.
That unexpected twist I experienced is something that I think informs my writing.
11. Melodies of Memory
If your memories were composed as a musical score, what instrument would represent your most cherished creative recollections? How does the melody of your past influence the composition of your present work?
I hate the piano but it’s the only instrument that comes to mind.
Maybe just one note on repeat for days with the rumblings of drums behind it building to a crescendo that never comes.
12. The Dance of Syntax
If your writing style were a dance, what would be the rhythm and tempo? How does the cadence of your sentences mirror the beating of your creative heart?
The tango?
It’s passionate and has a flair for the dramatic but there’s a lot truth to it if done right.
13. Admiration Exercises
Which writers do you admire? What are your favorite books?
I do not read.
Well, I’m not one for reading multiple books a year.
I tend to find a book and read it dozens of times until I am satisfied that it can’t give me anymore.
I obsess over particular chapters in books and certain lines.
One example is this very old book I found in a village in Ireland.
It chronicles the British Parliament’s speakers’ thoughts on the goings on within the Empire.
In one session, they speak of famine, war, death, and such.
I became fascinated with the official language they used to describe the terror of their subjects and how quickly they moved on to other topics.
This sudden temperature change always attracted me.
As for Authors, I love Hemmingway, King, and Thompson but poetry plays a big part for me too.
Plath is amazing. Joyce, Yeats, Heaney, Frost.
The list goes on.
14. An Indiscreet Question
With which influential author or inspirational figure from life, past or present, would you most like to share a cup of tea and a captivating conversation?
Michael Collins.
Not the astronaut, the Irish revolutionary.
I think he would have some things to say about modern Ireland but maybe I’m just projecting.
15. A Story in Ten Words
She is smoking in the kitchen, naked and alone.
16. A Favorite Fragment from Your Works
Fram: “When The Forever Traveler Gets Stuck”
Which way is true north when your cultural compass doesn’t work anymore?
I have spent ten years in Anatolia.
I always had a deep sense of who and what I was, but now…
God.
Who am I now?
Am I a westerner or an easterner?
Am I European or Asian?
The funny thing is that Turks have been asking themselves this question for centuries, and they still don’t have the answer.
What chance have I?
17. Contact Information
How can you be contacted?
You can catch me on Medium under Murphy’s law but if someone ever comes across this and has something in mind or would like to collab, you can email me at pwbmurphy@gmail.com
18. Blog/Author Page/Social Media Profile
Where can we read your stories?
On WordPress, I’m under The Red Beach In Paradise but on Medium, where I am most active, I am Murphy’s law.
I am also on YouTube under Murphy’s Law.
19. What exactly would you like to convey to a fellow writer/editor/screenwriter/film producer?
Present your writings in a few words.
Honest, raw, trippy, confusing and truthful.
It’s a trip.
I hope anyone who reads it enjoys it.
20. Embers of Endings
Envision the conclusion of a significant project. How do you feel as you pen the final words or brush the last strokes? What is the emotional resonance of completion, and how does it influence your anticipation for the next artistic endeavor?
When I finish one project I immediately start the next one.
If nothing comes to mind, panic ensues.
There is no end on this journey, just a man swinging from vine to vine hoping that the next one doesn’t snap.
Introducing the New Literary Society Publication
Welcome to our corner on Medium!
We’re thrilled to invite you to join our community.
Follow us here, read, share your thoughts, and even publish your own stories with us.
Your voice is not just welcome, it’s celebrated here.
Each week, we aim to publish an interview, along with the possibility of translating (into Romanian and/or German) and sharing it beyond Medium, on WordPress, for free.
https://theredbeachblog.wordpress.com/
How to Apply
If interested in doing the interview, simply write to —
• newliterarysociety@protonmail.com (Julia)
• NLS.Submission@gmail.com (Sal)
Julia Kalman 