Patricia Purvis

@janeshuff Heavens, what a hugely impressive amount of insight. I’m not sure I know that much about my main characters who have been around for four books (but it would be interesting to see what I DO know, so I’ll spend some time with this – thank you, really enlightening.

Good stuff, Jane. I am a ‘surface reader, accept what I’m given and expect to be further enlightened as the tale goes on, but also need to be enticed in the first place. Although Dipsy doesn’t sound like someone I’d warm to/would actively avoid for her lack of off button, her situation and the narrator have my sympathy.

Describing what she was…[Read more]

Ha! Thanks @Squidge for the Julie Cohen notes, and I see I commented on your blog back in 2013,
(tho’ never went to one of her workshops) But immediately, with this, I see the beginnings of a character emerge. Admittedly, built onto the murderer I was groping for with the various questionnaires, but certainly growing.

@JaneShuff – I haven’t even started the book yet, just 300 words of random scenes … but glad to hear it works for you.

Like Squidge, this is an alien way of working for me, but … I need a murderer. One who isn’t immediately identified as such. (And while I know the (probable) victim I don’t know why or how) so I’ll be attempting to discover him (probably him) with this approach.

I’m a bit of a sleeping partner in this; not fully committed, so will dip in and out, attempting to keep to time structure and maybe lax in commenting.

Read your dialogue soon after a trip to Mull. Wish I had the memory to write down what I hear i passing. And your ‘I remember blue tiles and the smell of drains and old food.’ sums it up; as you say above, you only need a couple of telling details.

And this a long ago piece deliberately adopting a Neolithic voice:

Always an edge to beware, to be aware of.

First at Liddle had been slabs, as thick as three of her three-year fingers, flat patterned stone, hard and often sharp when new, both separating bed from bed and on which they lay, degree of comfort dependent on the depth and newness of…[Read more]