Marsha Hayles
Born in Rochester, Minnesota, and now a resident of Rochester, New York, this former English teacher still loves to meet with children, teens, and adults to talk about books and writing. Welcome to poet, picture book writer, and novelist, Marsha Hayles!
Q. Hi Marsha, and thanks for being here! I am a huge fan of your award-winning novel, Breathing Room (Square Fish, 2013). What inspired you to write about a girl confined to a tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1940s?
I grew up in a medical town, Rochester, Minnesota, home to the Mayo Clinic. I’ve always found medicine fascinating. I once came across an adult novel called The Plague and I, written by one of my favorite children’s authors—Betty McDonald (author of the Mrs. PiggleWiggle books)—about her personal experiences at a tuberculosis sanatorium. I soon wondered how I would have felt had I been taken from my family and placed on bed rest for months or even years with the hope of overcoming tuberculosis. I began doing research on the disease, as well as on the sanatorium movement, visiting medical libraries in Rochester, Minnesota; Rochester, New York; and Saranac Lake, NY, home to the sanatorium movement in the United States. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. The real challenge was to stop doing the research and to start doing the writing.
Q. You have seven published picture books. Is there one that you are most proud of? How about one that kids – or adults – respond to the most?
I love them all, but I’m particularly fond of the exuberance of He Saves the Day, my favorite picture book to read aloud to a young audience. In contrast, I like to read The Feathered Crown to just one child at a time. It is a tender Christmas story written in verse about mother birds building a nest for a special infant. It pleases me how often the child will feel he or she is the special baby in the book, deserving of such love and devotion—which, of course, is true!
Q. Most of your picture books are written in rhyme. Do you find that stories for this age group naturally come to you that way?
Yes, I very much enjoy writing in rhyme. I love it when the lines seem to click together like an interlocking puzzle and form something new and pleasing to my ear.
Q. Do you have another picture book in the works? How about another novel?
I have a rhyming picture manuscript about a farmer saying goodnight to his garden, his animals, and his family. I do hope an editor wants to buy it!
Q. What is your favorite part about doing visits – either Skype or in-person – with schools or book clubs?
I am charmed to hear the students talk about the characters in Breathing Room as if they were real people because after spending so much time writing about them, I’ve come to feel that way, too. Though the story focuses on a group of girls as they “chase the cure” for their disease, I have been pleased that boys enjoy the book as well. One young man told me that even though he usually prefers action-adventure stories, he found Evelyn (my main character) a worthy hero. Such enthusiasm keeps me going as I work on new projects.
Q. You have a number of critique partners who are also Rochester children’s writers. How did you meet? How do you help each other with your writing?
I met my critique partners through a local children’s writer’s group. At one such meeting many years ago, a new member started scribbling notes to me, asking me all sorts of questions about the topic, the group, and myself. I could see she was a fireball of energy and talent, and soon we started working together as critique partners. Not only did I make a new friend in this writer—Linda Sue Park—but I also got to critique her novel, A Single Shard, before it won the Newbery Award. I am equally honored to be critique partners with several other remarkable writers: Vivian Vande Velde, Alice DeLaCroix, Judy Bradbury, and Robin Pulver. They are all avid readers and bring their wisdom and honest appraisals to every manuscript we share at our meetings.
Q. What are the biggest similarities between Rochester, MN and Rochester, NY? How about the biggest differences? How has each city influenced your writing?
Both are great places to live, and both have inspired me. Rochester, Minnesota, is sunnier but much colder and smaller, with a population about half the size of Rochester, New York. Rochester, NY, is blessed with a very active writer’s community. I also like that both Rochesters have their quirks. Rochester, MN, has a water tower that looks like a giant ear of corn, and Rochester, NY, has a favorite meal called a “garbage plate.”
When I’m in New York, I miss the park in my Minnesota hometown where I used to walk my dog in the summer and sled in the winter. Then again, when I’m in Minnesota, I miss the Erie Canal path where I walk my dog both in summer and winter. That Minnesota park, by the way, is behind St. Mary’s Hospital, where my father treated many sick children and where I was born. Rochester, MN is often called a “Medical Mecca” because of the Mayo Clinic, and it certainly fostered my interest in science and medicine.
I am currently working on a Civil War novel that starts in Rochester, NY. With the help of librarian Christopher Hoolihan at University of Rochester’s Edward G. Miner Library, I got to view original photographs once owned by Dr. William Smith Ely, an assistant surgeon with the 108th Regiment of New York State Volunteers during the Civil War. Those photographs, as well as a Dr. Ely’s surgeon’s kit, inspired me to start a story about a boy who helps tend injured soldiers after the Battle of Antietam. I am working on a revision of that novel right now.
Q. What is your best piece of advice for young writers who wish to be published one day?
Keep reading and writing and pursuing your interests. When I was a little girl, I liked to visit the medical museum in my hometown. Strange maybe, but that interest stayed with me and later prompted me to write Breathing Room. Plus, the goal should be to write what you care about—not to get published. That way you will be willing to do the hard work of writing and revising, then revising again, because the story matters to you so much. Only then will it matter to others.
Visit Marsha at her website (www.marshahayles.com) and at the Rochester Children’s Book Festival (www.rochesterchildrensbookfestival.com) on Saturday, November 12, 2016 at Monroe Community College.
Deena Viviani is a Rochester-based Young Adult Services Librarian. Read her book reviews at www.deenaml.livejournal.com or send her a note at DeenaViviani@hotmail.com – she loves to hear from readers!
