Claire Nicholls

I like improving that draft.

I like working with an editor and sort of fixing it up.

Yeah, I just like the whole thing.

I'm not as fast as I would like to be, but I really enjoy it.

Great to chat with you.

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Hello, I'm Claire Nicholls, and this is The Book Show, where I bring you conversations with your favourite fiction authors.

Later, you are going to meet Patmina Sarbet.

She has written a total page-turner of a book about a migrant family, a tragic death and the stories that swirl around this moment.

But first up, it is always a good time when the Irish writing legend Colm Tobin is here.

Colm is best known for his novels Brooklyn, Long Island and The Magician.

And he's about to publish a new book of short stories called The News from Dublin.

Colm Tobin, welcome back to the book show.

Tell me what you love about writing short stories.

Nothing motivates you like a deadline column.

I find it fascinating that you say you got better at these in your 50s because I was going to ask you to put on your teacher hat column and tell us why a short story is harder to write than a novel.

Can you just explain briefly, Colm, what that story is about?

About the death of a son during the First World War.

I love hearing about the discipline of writing these stories, because it sounds like there is a real kind of diligence to this, right?