Patrick Taylor’s characters, Fingal O’Reilly, M.D. and his young protege, Dr. Barry Laverty play word games over a pint. Trying to out do each other with trivia. And my readers all know, by now, how much I love words.
Over a couple of whiskeys, at the end of a long day, Barry toasts Dr. O’Reilly, “Slainte”.
O’Reilly responds, “Prost!” and then continues, “Did you know ‘prosit‘ is the third-person singular present active subjunctive of the Latin verb Prosum or the Maltese prosit, meaning ‘bravo'”
“I did not know that.” Barry replied. “How do you?” O’Reilly chuckled, “I learnt the Latin grammar in school, and a good thing too, because when I was a student at Trinity some lectures were delivered in Latin.”
My Interview with Patrick Taylor
Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?
A. You start with a blank screen. I have been writing a series for what seems like forever so I know my characters and the setting. Then I ask myself a question. What if characters A and B were faced with ??? and that is the beginning of the plot. Then I let the characters loose and see what happens Continue reading “‘Slainte, Prost, Cheers!’ Whatever the toast…..Part 2 An Interview with author, Patrick Taylor”
