Interview: Martha Conway, Author of Physician's Daughter By V. Jolene Miller

INTERVIEW

Interview: Martha Conway, Author of Physician's Daughter

BY V. JOLENE MILLER

INTERVIEW CONTINUED

I met Martha Conway online several years ago. As many do, I was scrolling through my social media feed and learned about her book, Sugarland. I snatched a copy, fell in love with her writing style and characters, and connected with her on Facebook so that I could keep up with future releases. When I saw her post about the release of The Physician’s Daughter (available for pre-order here: https://bit. ly/SneakPeekTPD), I quickly reached out to her. It is an absolute honor and delight to introduce you to historical fiction author, Martha Conway.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR WRITING JOURNEY. HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

MC: I wrote poetry as a child, and after college, I set about learning how to write short stories (which took me more years to learn than I care to admit!). After receiving my Master's in Creative Writing, I set about learning how to write a novel (which again took years!). My first published novel was a mystery, 12 Bliss Street, which was nominated for an Edgar. I believe that writing a mystery is good training for anyone interested in writing fiction, no matter what genre you ultimately end up writing. As you craft a mystery, you must pay close attention to when and how you present clues (or information) and how you build out the story.

YOU SEEM TO HAVE DEVELOPED A NAME FOR YOURSELF IN HISTORICAL FICTION. WHY HISTORICAL FICTION?

MC: I studied Literature and History in college, so it's a very comfortable fit. After I wrote my first mystery, I wrote a historical mystery, Sugarland, which takes place in 1920s Chicago. I loved loved loved doing the research for that novel. What I discovered was that, for me, reading primary sources about a past era and culture and people inspires my creative side. I want to use what I read to transform it for my own purposes.

IF YOU’RE READING THIS INTERVIEW AND HAVEN’T READ SUGARLAND, HEAD TO YOUR NEAREST ONLINE BOOKSELLER TO PURCHASE A COPY. SUGARLAND DOES NOT DISAPPOINT! DON’T WORRY, WE’LL WAIT ON YOU.

YOUR BOOKS (SUGARLAND IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS!) FEATURE FEMALE LEAD CHARACTERS. HOW DO YOU MEET THEM?

MC: Thank you! Sugarland is an interesting case because I planned to have

INTERVIEW

one character, Greta, as the protagonist, but a secondary character, Eve, grew on me as I wrote about her. Maybe because Eve writes music and has a strong creative side, I ultimately felt a stronger connection to her. The way I meet my characters is literally by writing about them. They are very shadowy to me at first, maybe only a name and a situation. But as I write about them, they begin to make themselves known to me. The character of May in my novel The Underground River (called The Floating Theatre in the U.K. and Europe) was modeled in part on my younger sister Beth, who was on the autism spectrum.

YOU HAIL FROM THE MIDWEST (OHIO - FOR OUR READERS WHO ARE BEING INTRODUCED TO YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME) AND NOW LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO. WHAT OTHER INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF CAN YOU SHARE WITH OUR READERS?

MC: Hmm. Let's see. I'm one of seven daughters—no boys—so I gravitate toward strong female characters. I myself have two children, a boy and a girl, which I didn't think possible since we tend to have either all boys or all girls in our family! I am lucky enough to teach for Stanford's online writing program, which I absolutely love. It is such a treat to talk and write about writing, art, creativity, and inspiration. I also love thinking and talking about the nuts and bolts of craft. Would firstperson work better for this particular story? How can we infuse energy into this scene? What makes believable dialogue? My students’ creativity and imagination always inspire me.

WHERE DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR THE PHYSICIAN’S DAUGHTER?

MC: The Physician's Daughter is about a young woman who wants to become a doctor after the American Civil War when there were very few women doctors. My inspiration was a bit roundabout: I have a close friend who immigrated from Afghanistan when she was a young girl, and she's done a lot of work around Afghan education for girls. Talking to her, and seeing the play A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (which my friend worked as a consultant for), made me realize how quickly rights like education can disappear. I began thinking about my education, relatively easily gotten, and how difficult it must have been for women in the previous centuries to educate themselves and/

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or get a professional degree. And I've always been interested in medicine, so it seemed like a natural pairing. The fun surprise was all the wacky medical practices people were trying out in the 1860s. Of course, there were a lot of sound medical practices, too, but the fun ones like the Oyster Treatment and the Ice Water Treatment really stood out. What we perceive as true (women aren't smart enough to be doctors; the oyster treatment will cure depression) changes as our culture and knowledge base change.

YOUR WEBSITE SAYS THAT YOU PARTICIPATE IN BOOK CLUBS THAT FEATURE YOUR BOOKS, AND THE LIBRARY JOURNAL IS QUOTED AS SAYING, “BOOK GROUPS WILL ESPECIALLY ENJOY THE DISTINCTIVE SETTING, THE RICH HISTORICAL DETAILS, AND THE THORNY ISSUES BEGGING TO BE DISCUSSED.” WHAT KEEPS YOU WRITING? IS IT THE SETTINGS, THE HISTORY, OR “THE THORNY ISSUES BEGGING TO BE DISCUSSED?”

MC: I love thorny issues. I love exploring gray areas. That said, building a world is a hugely enjoyable experience for me. As a reader, I will read any genre and style, but what I love most is being immersed in another place. That's the experience I try to bring to my readers as well. The two go hand in hand, I think: seeing an issue or problem set in the vividly portrayed past makes us think of comparisons to today. I find it fascinating to measure what's changed and what hasn't — and what I thought has changed but maybe has not. For example, The Physician's Daughter takes place just after the American Civil War, when the country was bitterly and firmly divided. The journalism in the 1850s and 1860s sounds eerily like the journalism of today. But dialogue is everything! Talking about thorny issues is healthier, in my experience, than not talking about them. And using a novel as a way to shape the dialogue usually feels safer. So yay, book groups!

BOOK GROUPS? TELL US MORE!

MC: I'd be happy to talk to any book group on any of these topics (or other topics) if there's interest. You can send me an email at mmconway@gmail.com, and we'll set a date.