Rita Murphy

INTERVIEW

December 6, 2000

Teenreads called NIGHT FLYING, the debut award winning novel by Rita Murphy, one of the best of 2000 --- and rightfully so. This magical coming-of-age tale revolves around 15-year-old Georgia who is raised by a family of women fliers --- that's right, fliers, only without brooms or wings. Tammy Currier interviewed this unique author a la snail mail since Murphy is not online, nor does she have a phone. But luckily for all of us she does have a mailbox. Join us as Murphy divulges her inspiration for writing NIGHT FLYING, her secret fear of airplanes, how she finally found herself, and much more. You will be inspired --- not only to fly, but to create, as Murphy has in her novel and in her life.

TBB: NIGHT FLYING is about a family of women who can (secretly) fly. Where did the idea for the story come from? Did you ever harbor the wish to fly as a child?

RM: One morning I was writing, which for me was putting my pen on the paper and writing down the very first thing that comes to me without thinking, even if it makes no sense at all. There is a lot of static and nonsense that comes initially, but if I stay with it, every once in a while a word or sentence will jump out at me and I'll go on with that. On that particular morning, I wrote, "The Hansen women have always flown at night, even in bad weather." I could feel right away that there was a lot of energy behind that sentence and I wanted to know more. So I kept writing. That's how it usually works for me. I get an opening sentence and the story evolves from there --- a sentence at a time. I let the characters lead me. It takes some faith and restraint to not try and figure it all out ahead of time, but for me its the best way. It keeps the writing juicy and alive.

I have always been fascinated with flight, though like Alice in the book. I'm actually terrified to fly on an airplane. I do it occasionally, but I've never been able to relax completely. I'd really prefer to fly like the Hansen women --- of my own power, naturally --- with the wind in my face. I guess there is a part of me that believes this is possible. When I was young I remember hearing the story of St. Teresa of Avila.  She was a nun who would reach these ecstatic states in prayer and then while preaching would begin levitating away from the pulpit. Eventually they had to weigh her down with stones so she wouldn't rise to the ceiling of the church. I've heard similar stories about certain Yogis in India doing the same thing. I think I'll always keep that belief inside of me. That possibility. I think we are all so much more powerful than we realize.

TBB: Considering the number of special powers you could have chosen from, what made you decide to grace your characters with the ability of flight?

RM: The characters in the story guided me and they needed to fly. I never impose anything upon the characters. It has to come from them or it won't work. They needed to have some escape from their rigid and stifling lives at the Hansen Estate.  I think anyone in an oppressive situation feel this desire --- to literally fly away from whatever is holding them. Flight in the story is a metaphor for this kind of freedom --- freedom of the spirit. And flying in the daylight is the ultimate claiming power for Georgia. In a family where the accepted way of being is to keep secrets and never be who you really are (a family that can only fly in the dark), to speak the truth is the most difficult thing to do. But it is also necessary in order to keep yourself alive in the inside. I'm glad the Hansen's chose to fly. It was the best thing they could do for themselves.

TBB: Most of time, women in stories who fly are witches --- but in your book the women can fly without a broom and are not supernatural in any other way.  Did you ever toy with the notion that they were witches when first mapping out the book?

RM: When I think of a witch, I think of a powerful woman who is connected to herself and the earth has healing abilities. The Hansen women are not yet witches (wise women). In a way they are still girls because they haven't claimed their own power apart from their mother. It is true that like witches, the Hansen women are set outside of the society they live in because people suspect them of being different in some way, but really only Carmen is wise enough to be a witch. She has gained her wisdom through her suffering.

I'm glad in a way that the Hansens are not witches --- not an elite group that can fly. They are ordinary women with their own struggles and gifts and I think this is an important message to young women who read the book. The power to fly (to realize your dreams, whatever they are), is within you. You don't have to be a supernatural being. You just need to be quiet with yourself, remember your power and call it forth.

TBB: Main character Georgia is trying, sometimes unsuccessfully, to live within the strict rules of her grandmother's house. Her grandmother is a controlling woman who dominates her daughters and by default, her granddaughter.  Her rules are strict --- no men in the house, no eating meat, no flying before the age of 16. Georgia defies some of the rules and ultimately changes the dynamic if the household. Who is Georgia's character based on?

RM: A friend of mine once told me that all the characters in our dreams are really just different aspects of ourselves.  I believe this about the characters in NIGHT FLYING. I can see parts of myself in each one. Perhaps Georgia the most. Like Georgia, there was a time in my life when I had to reject other people's ideas and expectations of my life and begin living from a deeper place in myself. I was very caught up in pleasing my family, keeping secrets, and not making waves. In the process, I started to forget my own dreams. It was very difficult to break from family, which I did for a few years. I had to leave everything and start from scratch. But the moment I started to move toward my own life, my own values, I found my creativity. It was like waking up. I had to risk losing everything to find out who I was and what my work in this world was about. Maybe it had to be like that for me. I had to go out on that limb, watch it break and hit the ground. It cracked me open. It made my heart bigger.

TBB: Flying has always been a popular metaphor. Humans have been trying to take to the skies for ages. Icarus of the tragic Greek legend tried it, and the famous Renaissance artist, Leonardo da Vinci, among others, pondered the possibilities. And, stories with the ability to fly show up time and time again in mythology and folklore. What does the idea of flight mean to you? And what do you think it means to teens?

RM: Flight for me means freedom. To go and do and be whatever you wish. For young adults I think flight is particularly important. They are on the verge of flying for the first time --- breaking away from family and making their own way. It can be a scary time. I think that is why it's so important to have a vision for yourself --- a dream that is strong enough to sustain you and ground you through all the changes ahead. AND all the distractions. I found for myself that there were so many distractions (college, men, jobs, etc...) that pulled at me. I'm so grateful that somehow as a teenager I connected with something within myself (however vague) of being a creative person. That never went away. I ignored it for a while, but it kept coming back.  I think it's important for me to always come home to myself in that way. I do it through writing and having as much solitude as I can. In a world that's desperately trying to keep you entertained away from yourself, I think it's vital to know who you are and take time every day to be with yourself and your dreams.  Then it's really possible to fly.

TBB: Speaking of folklore, NIGHT FLYING reads somewhat of a folktale. Typically, moral issues play an integral part in this form of storytelling. With that in mind, are there any moral lessons in Georgia's coming of age story lessons to be learned?

RM: The one thing that stands out for me is "Be truthful." With yourself first, and then with others. Sometimes it seems so difficult to speak the truth, especially when you think it might be hurtful to you or another person. That's what's happening in NIGHT FLYING.  That's what Georgia ultimately has to come up against. Speak the truth and risk losing everything or lying and stay safe. I feel like I've experienced this dilemma over and over and always when I tell the truth and trust that another can handle it, it works out. It might feel like the world is going to fall apart and it might be messy and uncomfortable for a while, but it's real and I think it's the only way to truly live a free life. I guess if there is a moral in the story, that would be it.

TBB: Airplanes, hot air balloons, and hang gliders aside, we humans aren't able to fly of own volition. There are, however, activities that mimic the feeling of flight. For some, horseback riding does the trick. For others, dance, and for many more, a sense of accomplishment creates that soaring feeling.  Are there any activities that make you feel like you're flying?

RM: Dancing. Sometimes when I'm dancing and moving fast, I feel like I can take off and fly. It's a great feeling. Walking on a windy day does it for me too. I love strong winds and being up in a high open place when it's windy. For a while I lived in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and occasionally these strong winds would whip down from the mountains. They were called Chinooks and they could be fierce enough to blow the windows right out of your house. I loved those winds. I love standing behind the mesa behind our house, closing my eyes and letting the wind blow me about --- blow my hair and my clothes. I couldn't hear anything but the wind in my ears. If I was having a hard week at school, I sometimes wished that a good string gust would just lift me up and take me away. That was very close to flying for me.

TBB: NIGHT FLYING is your first novel for young adults. Did you go into this story idea intending to write for a teen audience, or did it just evolve into that?

RM: I thought NIGHT FLYING might be a short story for adults, but the voice was definitely that of a young girl, so I just let Georgia keep telling the story in her own way and it evolved into a book for young adults. I'd never written anything longer than an eight page story in my whole life, so I was just amazed that a whole book came out of me. That was thrilling in itself.

TBB: NIGHT FLYING won the Seventeenth Annual Delacorte Press Prize for a First Young Adult Novel --- congratulations!  That must have been a wonderful feeling. How did you first hear about the prize and what was your reaction when you found out?

RM: A friend in a writing group told me about the contest in September and the deadline to submit manuscripts was December 31st, so I wrote really fast, which I think was good, because I didn't have time to sit around and think too much about it.  Thankfully, the story came out quickly. The manuscript I sent in was VERY rough. In fact, there was a time when I didn't think I would make the deadline at all. I had some technical problems with my computer (I lost the first forty pages of the story in October and had to rewrite them). It was aggravating, but I just had this strong sense that I had to finish and send it in for no other reason than to say I accomplished something. Also, I did a dangerous thing. I actually told a few people what I was doing, so I had to follow through. I didn't give up, but I wanted to plenty of times. Strangely though, it seemed whenever I really considered quitting, a friend would stop by and ask how it was going or another friend offered a computer or to watch my son. So I plowed ahead and I'm really glad I did.

Wendy Lamb at Random House called to tell me I had won. On the phone I think it was her neighbor's phone? you say in your intro. that she doesn't have a phone, right? I know she didn't have one then (when she won the contest), but think she has one now. I phoned her...never clarified where she physically was when we spoke, though. Have to make it all make sense in this interview./sm, I was pretty calm, but after I hung up, I ran around the house jumping up and down kind of squealing and weeping. It was funny to watch, I'm sure. When my husband came home and I told him, he picked me up and spun me around in the driveway until I got dizzy and almost threw up. It was great!

TBB: Your prose is a joy to read. It's wonderfully descriptive and very lyrical.  Have you ever written any poetry?

RM: I've tried. Maybe that's why writing poetry is so difficult for me. It is an effort, where writing prose is effortless. I'm generally a rather quiet person, so when I have the chance to write I have a lot to say --- more than a poem can hold. I've tried editing some prose into poems, but it never seems to have the same flow. Perhaps when I'm older and I've said all the things I need to say, than maybe my mind will be spacious enough to write poetry.

TBB: Who are some of your favorite young authors --- classic and contemporary?

RM: I've only started reading young adult books in the last two years. I feel like a beginner. I love many contemporary writers like Sharon Creech, Patricia Reilly Giff, Patricia MacLachlan, Theodore Taylor, Christopher Paul Curtis and J.K. Rowling. There are so many more I'm just waiting to discover.

TBB: From what we've read, you're currently at work in your next novel. Can you give us a sneak preview?

RM: My next novel is called BLACK ANGELS. It's being published by Delacorte as well and will be out March 14, 2001. It's about a young girl named Celli Jenkins who lives in a small segregated town in Georgia. The story takes place in the summer of 1961, when Celli's town becomes divided by the emerging civil rights movement. Through all the tumultuous events of the summer, Celli seeks three black angels on the white side of town and they become a witness to her as she changes the way she looks at herself, her town and her family.

TBB: And finally, Georgia Hansen is such an engaging character, will we ever hear from her again?

RM: You never know. I find that characters have a life of their own. Perhaps she will pop up again or maybe some aspect of her personality will. The character of Carmen first emerged in a short story I wrote a few years ago and she came back much stronger and more developed in NIGHT FLYING. So I hope Georgia comes back in some form. I'd like to know more about her too.

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