The Blunder-her

I had a lot of fun writing this, as you might be able to tell from the title. A play on words of the fantastic Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Blunderer, whose work I discovered on my crime fiction module and consequently is the inspiration for this piece.

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I think I enjoyed this so much as I was really able to get into the head of these characters, being students in the modern world, which allowed me to write the majority of it the day before it was due – true to the student ethos. Consequently, this was also my main inspiration for adapting the 1954 piece into the present day, as well as switching the genders of the primary characters.

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I wanted to explore how this would change the plot of the original, in terms of the method taken by the murderer and their accidental copy-cat (aka the blunderer), as well as modern issues facing them. In particular, I wanted to focus on themes of sexuality and gender and whether this would impact the motivations of the characters. This was also to acknowledge Highsmith’s struggles with her sexuality, as well as drawing on the experiences of other characters in her novels; such as Ripley and Carol.

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One day I might expand this piece, into a slightly less short story if nothing else – if I can remember all my initial ideas! As I originally thought I could fit in far more plot points than I did before I got caught up in Millie and Wilma’s world; with their struggles, wants and relationships. Authors often talk about characters popping into their heads and demanding them to tell their stories, and thankfully for me (and my looming deadline) this was one of those times. I particularly liked telling a story from two perspectives, which is something so crucial to crime fiction and yet I rarely do it.     

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What do you think? Let me know in the Contact section. Or if you'd like to know more about the piece or have any other questions, please feel free to send me a message at jmprowriting@gmail.com.