INTERVIEW: Deirdre Purcell on the secrets to successful novel writing

In the last of a series of Meath Chronicle interviews with the biggest names coming to the Kells Hinterland Festival, ANNE CUNNINGHAM spoke with award-winning novelist and broadcaster Deirdre Purcell.

MEATH CHRONICLE: Deirdre, you've had more careers than most people! Civil servant, Aer Lingus employee, Abbey actor, news anchor, print journalist, biographer, ghost-writer and novelist. Would you say you've more energy than most?

DEIRDRE PURCELL: I have a very strong work ethic, instilled from childhood by parents firstly and secondly by the brilliant nuns in boarding school in Crossmolina. Commitment to completing work is the psychological reward – everything else is a bonus.

M.C. It seems you fell into fiction writing by happy accident – your first novel was commissioned. What inspired you to write a second one?

D.P. I was lucky enough to get a two-book contract, so the second one wasn't actually a work of inspiration but of necessity!

M.C. Some 20 books, including 14 novels later, you leave your readers waiting for the next one and the next! What's your secret?

D.P There's no secret, really. And every novelist is unique in my opinion. The common thread, I believe, is the ability to tell a story. All successful novelists know how to engage a reader in a what's going to happen next situation? There are all kinds of storytellers, cerebral, polemical, socially desirous of improving the world, or those who simply get the story on paper as fluently as possible, striving to let the characters come alive. I belong to the latter. But sometimes, I can't avoid following my journalistic curiosity. I love to learn new things, I enjoy the research. Before Google, research was much slower, but far more enjoyable.

M.C. You won many awards for your journalism and you currently broadcast RTE's “It Says in the Papersâ€. Do you still have news-hound blood in your veins?

D.P My first novel (A Place of Stones) was engendered by a small paragraph in the Irish Times, reporting a mishap for a small plane over the Aran Islands, which eventually landed safely with the help of islanders. The “WHAT IF†factor kicked in. What if the plane crash-landed? The pilot died? But a baby was found on board that survived? With no identification?

M.C. Your latest novel The Husband is about a woman who leaves a good marriage for a potentially bad one. Why do you think people do this?

D.P. Rationality doesn't come into it. The consequences were what interested me. People make impulsive decisions with extraordinary, sometimes deadly outcomes. But that's what makes us all different - and very, very interesting.

M.C. The Husband is set in Chicago and rural Laois – polar opposite locations. It's obvious that you know Chicago well. Did you live there?

D.P. Yes, for five years in my twenties. I absolutely adore Chicago. I return as often as I can – not as often as I'd like, unfortunately. To me it's a wonderfully liveable city with people who are very proud of it – glorious architecture, wonderful parks, amazing art, theatre and music – with Lake Michigan providing beaches and lungs.

M.C. How important is setting? Could this novel have worked just as well if the dual locations were, say, Dublin and Kerry, or Belfast and Clare?

D.P. I've wanted to write about Chicago because I find it so enjoyable; my mother was from the midlands (Co Laois) and instinctively I love writing about that landscape, too. So I guess you have to knock some enjoyment out of writing or the discipline involved in writing a novel would wither you. To me, settings are very important – they paint pictures for readers and bring them into the characters' external lives. As a journalist, I always felt my job was to have the reader on my shoulder during interviews - to convey, not just the sense of the saying, but the surrounding sight, sound and even smell.

M.C. There's a nasty editor in the book and it's a woman! Have you had experience of nasty editors as a journalist?

D. P. I've had three major editors in my writing life, all women. All three were (and are) fantastic. And very, VERY tolerant.

M.C. Are you working on a novel at the moment, and if so can you whet our appetites a little?

D.P. It's set on a cruise liner, with three main characters on board, an ageing English male actor, a young English novelist looking for a plot and characters, and a very unhappy young Irish/American ex-model married to an older, wealthy lawyer. All three are at a table for eight – so there's a fertile cast of minor characters, too.

M.C. Can you give us some idea of how and where you write?

D.P. Personal circumstances mean there's no typical writing day, I wish there was. I write a lot in bed as when sitting at a desk, I'm inclined to hunch my shoulders. Despite all the ergonomics, decent chairs, etc this leads to a very painful back and even a dowagers' hump. (Mind you, the bed position can lead to twig-like legs – but you can deal with that by wearing jeans!)

- Deirdre Purcell will be appearing on the Merriebell Farm Stage In the Church of Ireland on Saturday 24th at 12.30. For more information see Hinterland.ie