A Goodreads user asked Paula Brackston:

Hi Paula, I'm currently reading The Witch's Daughter and thoroughly enjoying it. What are the challenges when writing about a main character who is centuries old? Thank you, Colleen Knight

Paula Brackston Hi Colleen, thanks for your question. Of course there are days when we all feel pretty ancient, but you are right to identify peculiar challenges when writing such an unnaturally old character. The first of these has to be the way that character speaks. Bess was born in the early part of the seventeenth century, so her speech patterns were embedded in those times. But her language would necessarily have altered and evolved over centuries. She would have sounded pretty odd to everyone around her if it hadn't! I tried to keep something of the flavour of her history to her voice, and had to work hard to make sure she didn't come over as pompous or stilted or just plain odd. I hope you think I succeeded.
Aside for voice, she would have witnessed so many changes in the way people live and the way they relate to each other, and I hoped to reflect this in the way she behaved and her general wariness of people.
Hope you enjoy the rest of the book; I am currently working on the sequel.

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