He would tell us the story while we played the record, and my sister and I would act it out. It was this primitive family theater and it was very important for me in learning the power of story and how it can make you feel. Then I got a little older and I’d write plays and have the neighborhood girls come be in them. We eventually got a video camera and it was a bulky thing to record with—the camera would have to be connected to the VCR when you actually filmed—and we would make movies all the time.” “In junior high, I started writing poetry for fun. It was dark poetry—imagine that! I was really shy,” Purdie recalled. “I got brave in high school and started acting. That’s when I developed a deep love for Shakespeare. Our school had an extensive drama program and that’s what I also ended up studying in college. My husband and I got to study at the Oxford School of Drama. We studied Shakespeare extensively. Shakespeare’s awesome because it’s poetry. Anytime you study poetry, it’s going to enhance your writing—not that I was even thinking of myself as a writer then. As an actor, you’re also studying character: their motivations, their objectives, their backstory.” “I did write some short stories as a teenager and I was an extensive journal writer. I’d write 10 to 50 pages in my journal every night. It was mostly dictations of conversations I had with the boy I had a crush on. Nonetheless, I was developing the practice of regular writing. Journal writing helps you establish your voice, it helps you learn how to communicate feelings, so there’s a lot I took from that, even though it wasn’t creative fiction.” It was only in her early 30s that Purdie set herself the goal of being published. “I hadn’t been able to act in a few years because, at this point, I’d had three children. My oldest, who had been our only child for six years, was a really easygoing child. We could always take her to rehearsal with us; she just adapted to everything. Then our next two were like, ‘I don’t think so. I’m going to fuss the whole rehearsal!’ I could have done more plays, but I choose to be with my children.” Purdie’s perspective and needs shifted in 2009, after she donated a kidney
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to her brother. “I went through a depression for the first time in my life. I found my short stories in the months following that, when I was still recovering emotionally. It wasn’t just a creative void. I had gone through this really massive thing and I was so happy to help my brother, but I was suffering at that time and I didn’t know how to express myself because I wasn’t acting onstage, and I didn’t write in journals anymore. For me, journals aren’t a private place. I’m like, ‘My grandchildren are going to read this one day.’ When I write fiction, especially fantasy, my emotion gets out there. I think all art is an expression of something that’s so beautiful, profound, deep, vivid or painful that it’s difficult to express in any other way.”
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All art is an expression of something that’s so beautiful, profound, deep, vivid or painful that it’s difficult to express in any other way.
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Purdie actively cultivates a creative lifestyle and encourages others to do the same. “Embrace everything you can artistically. If you live near a college, they usually have art shows and theater. Surround yourself with art and step outside your comfort zone. Try listening to some classical music. Try watching a different kind of movie—a more artsy film. It’s going to help you have more empathy, broaden your worldview, and give you a richer life. For me, it’s just the way I live.” You can find more information about Purdie’s books, including Bone Crier’s Moon, on her website at kathrynpurdie.com/ books. Bone Crier’s Moon was released on 03/03/20.