Victoria Purman talks about the writing process for her novel A Woman’s Work, an historical novel set in Melbourne in 1956.

We discussed so many writing craft aspects including:

- how a pamphlet in a second hand bookstore gave her the idea for the novel

- how she fills the saggy middle of a novel

- the importance of a first line

- how her readers are a treasure trove of stories and ideas

- her approach to backstory

- the editing process

- how she overcomes self-doubt 

EPISODE INCLUDES SOME SPOILERS

You’ll find links to buy both paperback and ebook versions of A Woman’s Work here.

ABOUT VICTORIA PURMAN

Victoria Purman is an Australian top ten and USA Today bestselling fiction author. Her 2023 novel, A Woman’s Work, is out now. Her books The Nurses’ War, The Women’s Pages, The Land Girls and The Last of the Bonegilla Girls have all been Australian bestsellers. Her earlier novel The Three Miss Allens was a USA Today bestseller. She is a regular guest at writers festivals, a mentor and workshop presenter across Australia, and has judged the fiction category for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature and the 2022 ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize for an unpublished manuscript.

Website: https://www.victoriapurman.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/VictoriaPurmanauthor/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoria-Purman-Author/132297233615790 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/VictoriaPurman

To enter this month’s competition, head to Writers Book Club Instagram or Facebook and look for the giveaway post.

Order A Woman’s Work by Victoria Purman here. 

Order Plum by Brendan Cowell here. 

This podcast is recorded on the beautiful, unceded lands of the Garigal people of the Eora nation.

Full show notes available at writersbookclubpodcast.com