Local Author Spotlight: Norma Murphy
Local Author Spotlight
Norma Murphy
Please describe your writing routine. Is there a time of day or place that is most productive for you?
First thing in the morning I write in my journal, what Julia Cameron calls “morning pages.” While the writing may initially begin about me, it inevitably turns to the novel I am working on, the characters, what they are feeling, doing, thinking. I find it a good way to transition to my work. As far as a place, we have a home in Newbury, New Hampshire on a small lake, Lake Todd. It’s quiet with no distractions or anything I need to do but write and read.
What do you believe are the most important elements of writing? How do you incorporate it into your own work?
I believe you need strong characters. A writer needs to truly know their characters in order to write their story. This is not to say I totally know my characters when I begin writing; it’s more that I have a sense of who they are and as I write, as I put them in situations and see how they act and react, I learn more and more about them. Often they do or say things that surprise me. It’s their way of revealing themselves to me and brings me such joy.
What advice would you give to a young writer and/or a writer starting their first creative work? The best advice I can give is to sit down and write. I think young/new writers think they need to have an entire story in their mind before they start, or an outline, which for me would stifle the creativity and not give the characters a chance to breathe. When I was teaching, some students would be almost afraid to start, saying “I don’t know what to write.” I would tell them to start there, start with those words and keep their pencil moving. And don’t judge what you’re writing when you first start. It may be awkward or it may be brilliant, but just keep writing. What you think is the beginning may turn out to be the middle and that’s fine. Just write.
What were your favorite books when you were a child?
Growing up in the housing projects in the Acre, the North Common was my back yard. I loved sitting under a tree in the summer and reading Nancy Drew mysteries.
Do you have any reading recommendations?
I recommend anything and everything by Julia Keller. I also loved The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz, and am currently reading The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I have read everything by Andre Dubus III, who I studied with, and don’t know of another author who gets to the heart of a character like he does.
Norma Murphy was born and raised and educated in Lowell. She began college when she was 35, graduating with a degree in English, then a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction. She taught for three years in Newburyport, then 15 years in Lowell, first as an elementary school teacher, at the McAvinnue School, then as the writing teacher at the Daley Middle School. Growing up, she never dreamed she would be a writer, but she published her first novel, A Better Life, five years ago and her second novel, The Price of Secrets, a few months ago. She is working on her third novel now and can’t imagine her life without writing.
Her books are available for purchase on Amazon
For further information visit her website and Facebook page.