Author Interview with Victoria Murata!
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Three young women leave Independence, MO in the spring of 1852 on a wagon train bound for Oregon. Brenna and Rebecca travel with their families. Emily is newly married. Six months and 2000 miles later they reach their destination much changed from who they were when they started. Daily life on the wagon train is challenging. Cholera is rampant, crime not unheard of, and death is an ever present visitor. Their hopes and fears are realized in unforgettable experiences of love and loss. Through it all they form a bond with each other that will last a lifetime.
Appropriate for 8th graders (and older) studying American history--specifically westward expansion.
I am honored to introduce the Author of Journey of Hope, Victoria Murata! Victoria spent four years carefully researching the Oregon trail, and believes this book that would be a natural addition to the classroom study of this time period. Thank you for being here Victoria, let's get started...
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR BOOK.
I am a retired social studies teacher living in Albuquerque, NM. My two children and four grandchildren live close by. My husband and I enjoy travelling and we’ve been to many amazing places. We are also sailors and we’ve sailed New Mexico lakes, (yes, we do have some lakes here in the desert), and we’ve sailed in the San Diego area and in Belize and the San Juan’s. We’ve also participated in some coastal Pacific Ocean races.
My novel, Journey of Hope, is about three families on the Oregon Trail in 1852. It has a lot of action and adventure in the forms of Indian encounters, wild animals, diseases that take a toll and the rivers and mountains that have to be crossed.
It primarily focuses on three young women who get to know each other during their journey. One of these women, Brenna, is an Irish immigrant travelling with her family. They endured extreme hardship in Ireland as a result of the potato famine, and after spending some years in a tenement in NYC, they are looking for a new beginning in Oregon. None of them can predict how arduous the trip will be.
Rebecca is the oldest child in a large family travelling from Iowa. She has many responsibilities since her mother is pregnant and will have the seventh child while on the trail. Rebecca experiences love and loss and learns how deep the heart is.
Emily is the main protagonist. She is a young, newly married woman from a wealthy family in Ohio. She grew up never wanting for anything. It was only after her marriage that she discovered her husband’s wanderlust, and because of the constraints of the times, she must follow where he goes, and he is going to Oregon. Her journey takes many twists and turns and she discovers a secret about herself that could ruin her. She endures unspeakable horrors and emerges triumphantly stronger and wiser in Oregon City.
WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?
I’ve always considered myself a writer. Even as a child, I was always writing something. All through school and into college I received a lot of encouragement for my writing. Interestingly, I always wanted to write fiction. My diaries from my childhood are quite boring!
WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST WRITING ACHIEVEMENT?
I think this book, Journey of Hope, is my greatest writing achievement. I spent four years carefully researching life on the Oregon Trail and life in 1852. One of the characters, a dentist who wants to start an orchard in Oregon, is a real person who travelled the trail in 1852, and what happens to him and his two wagons of fruit trees is a historical event. I had to research what dentistry was like in 1852—kind of primitive! If you had a tooth ache, there was really only one solution on the Oregon Trail!
I loved the research part, and I tried to incorporate all of the interesting facts into my story in some way. For example, it was fun to discover how much in the way of food and utensils and cherished items the “overlanders” could fit into the typical wagon that travelled the trail. Many of the women who over packed had to leave precious possessions along the trail when they discovered after the first day of travel that their wagon was too heavy. People in Independence would ride out and “harvest’ the trail for items that were left behind. They would find things like stoves, beds, dressers, dishes and boxes of books.
WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
Words. Being clear is so very important, and words are very constraining. I can have the most beautiful story in my mind, but putting it into words to say what I mean can be a challenge. I had to learn to read my writing as if I was new to it and I had never read it before.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?
I am currently working on a sequel to Journey of Hope. This story follows Emily, Rebecca and Brenna in Oregon City, and there’s an interesting twist to the plot that I think readers will enjoy.
I’m also writing a completely different novel. It’s a mystery about an old woman who has held a secret for a lifetime, and how and why she decides to reveal it to her family. As the story unfolds, it looks at both the consequences of keeping this secret and revealing it, and the forgiveness that must occur in order for lives to move forward.
WHAT GENRE(S) DO YOU WRITE?
Historical fiction and mystery are the two genres I am focusing on. I also write memoir.
DO YOU EVER SUFFER FROM WRITER’S BLOCK? IF SO, HOW DO YOU GET PAST IT?
Yes, I’ve had writer’s block which is why I’m working on two totally different novels right now. When I’m stuck on one, I will work on the other. Meanwhile the one I’m stuck on will “percolate” and soon I will know the direction I need to go with it.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE PLACE TO WRITE?
I have a large desk upstairs in my office. It faces a big window that looks at the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque.
WHAT’S THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED FROM A READER?
A reader said Journey of Hope is the best Oregon Trail book she’s ever read. I love that because it sounds like she’s read a few, and it means my research paid off.
WHAT WAS THE WORST COMMENT FROM A READER?
I had a reviewer say that there are too many characters in my book. There are a lot of characters that are introduced fairly quickly, but once you get into the story, they all get sorted out.
OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?
I love my family, my church, my community. I love to travel and experience new places and people. I make jewelry and I dabble in pastels. I sail. I had a ranch and horses, and I studied natural horsemanship which does come out in the book. Brenna is a natural with horses and she becomes the go-to person for training young horses.
DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK(S) PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION?
Yes, and I recommend it.
HOW DID YOUR BOOK COVER COME TO FRUITION?
I had a vision in my head about how the cover should look. The team who was designing it kept trying, but they weren’t coming up with anything I liked. I finally found the images on free image sites and sent them to the team, and they put them all together into what it is today and I love it!
DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN ANY OF YOUR CHARACTERS?
I see parts of myself in many of the characters in the story, but there is no one character that I modeled after myself.
DOES THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY FRUSTRATE YOU?
I think it’s hard trying to find your niche. I have friends who have tried to get published and have received many rejections from publishers. It’s not because their writing isn’t good. They just have to find the right publisher who wants what they have to offer. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. That’s why Indie authors are so fortunate today. We really do have control over our products—our books. Thankfully I chose to self-publish before I tried to get published by any of the industry publishers.
DID YOU EVER THINK OF QUITTING?
No. There were times when the book was set aside for a while, but it was always writing itself in my mind.
HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE ‘SUCCESS’ AS A WRITER?
When I am happy with what I’ve written, I feel successful. That doesn’t mean I will never go back and change anything because I have and I will. In fact, I could still be revising Journey of Hope, but there’s a point where you have to call something finished. I believe that if you base success on what others think, you’re not writing for yourself and it will come through in your “voice.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?
Keep writing. Everything changes. Life changes but keep your resolve and never give up.
ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?
I was expecting my novel to be popular in Europe since it seems Europeans have a fascination with the Wild West period of the United States, but so far it hasn’t happened. One problem is getting my book translated into other languages—very expensive! Who knows what the future holds? Maybe it will catch on in Europe in the future.
And now for the speed round of questions...
Victoria's “BLONDE” BASICS:
FAVORITE FOOD? Asian cuisine and salty snacks
FAVORITE MOVIE? Hmmmm…..there’s so many. I love Gone with the Wind. More recently I loved Life of Pi and Moonrise Kingdom.
FAVORITE BOOK? I loved Angela’s Ashes and also The Help.
FAVORITE SUPERHERO? Batman, hands down.
FAVORITE AUTHOR? Recently I’m enjoying Ann Patchett, and I love Erik Larson and Louise Erdrich. Probably my favorite, though, is James Herriot. He was a vet in Yorkshire in the 30’s and beyond and his stories are wonderful.
FAVORITE MOVIE? Hmmmm…..there’s so many. I love Gone with the Wind. More recently I loved Life of Pi and Moonrise Kingdom.
FAVORITE BOOK? I loved Angela’s Ashes and also The Help.
FAVORITE SUPERHERO? Batman, hands down.
FAVORITE AUTHOR? Recently I’m enjoying Ann Patchett, and I love Erik Larson and Louise Erdrich. Probably my favorite, though, is James Herriot. He was a vet in Yorkshire in the 30’s and beyond and his stories are wonderful.
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