Ask the Author: Rosemary Hayes
Answered Questions (14)
Rosemary Hayes
Hi Cheryl,
I was lucky enough to meet (via a very circuitous route) a young Muslim woman who had run away from a forced marriage. She was very generous with her time, told me her own story (which I used as a basis for 'Payback') and checked the typescript for me to make sure I'd not made any cultural blunders.
I was lucky enough to meet (via a very circuitous route) a young Muslim woman who had run away from a forced marriage. She was very generous with her time, told me her own story (which I used as a basis for 'Payback') and checked the typescript for me to make sure I'd not made any cultural blunders.
Rosemary Hayes
Thank you Thomas, I'm glad you've enjoyed them.
Children are such a receptive audience and I've always enjoyed writing for them and getting feedback for them (they don't mince words, they always tell you how it is!) I feel comfortable writing for young people and I don't think I'd ever be tempted to write for an adult market.
Children are such a receptive audience and I've always enjoyed writing for them and getting feedback for them (they don't mince words, they always tell you how it is!) I feel comfortable writing for young people and I don't think I'd ever be tempted to write for an adult market.
Rosemary Hayes
Yes, definitely. All my Australian based stories came out of visits I made to various places. The prison in Port Arthur and the boy's prison in Point Puer, both in Tazmania, crept into my 'Troubled Waters' trilogy, and my visits to old gold mining towns formed the basis for 'Herbie's Place.' Then later, I was blown away by the shipwreck stories in Western Australia.
Rosemary Hayes
I've always enjoyed writing. I read voraciously as a child - C. S. Lewis and Elizabeth Goudge particularly. When I was ten I wrote a story and sent it to a publisher and was furious when it wasn't accepted! I'm sure it was dreadful! I wrote my first novel when I lived in Australia when my eldest son was a baby and I had time to write while he slept.
Rosemary Hayes
Ever since my children were young, I've enjoyed writing for young people. They are such an open and receptive audience with wonderful imaginations.
Rosemary Hayes
That's hard to answer, Amy. If I'm writing an historical story, then the research always takes ages. If it's a contemporary novel and it's coming easily, then much less time. Having said that, I'm working on a love story at the moment and it's taking me a long time to work out the plot.
Rosemary Hayes
At the moment I'm reading a load of children's books to keep up to date (Journey to the River Sea and the Alex Ryder stories which I'd not read before) but two adult books I've loved recently are Moon Palace by Paul Auster and The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. And yes, everything you read influences you, gives you ideas, shows you how to write in different ways. All writers need to read and read.
Rosemary Hayes
The ideas come quite easily, Amy. It's getting them into some sort of order and working out the plot line that takes the time.
Rosemary Hayes
Keep going, even if you think you are writing rubbish. When you revisit your writing you'll be able to see what's wrong.
Rosemary Hayes
Making up stories, researching, letting your imagination soar.
Rosemary Hayes
Follow your heart. Write what you want to write - but then put your work away for a while and come back to it. Then you'll be able to make it better.
Rosemary Hayes
A mystery about a father who goes missing.
Rosemary Hayes
All sorts of things inspire me! Often an incident is stored up in my head for years and niggles away at me until I write about it. Or the untold story - like those early marooned mariners on the West Coast of Australia.
Rosemary Hayes
My new book 'Forgotten Footprints', due out later this year, is a follow on from 'The Blue Eyed Aborigine'. Both books were inspired by visiting the Shipwreck Museum in Perth, Western Australia where I learnt about 17th and 18th century Dutch shipwrecks and their survivors. Amazing stories of courage and endurance - and all long before Captain Cook landed on the Eastern side of Australia in 1770.
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