Creating “Soul and Rhythm”: An Interview with M.G.Hughes

flipside, my age has given me the great advantage of being able to observe the worlds of both classic and current literature. And I  think the observations I’ve taken away, especially in terms of style, have greatly aided me in the development of my own storytelling abilities.

Can you share a bit about your background with us?

I was born and raised in Oceanside, California (San Diego county). I grew up in a mixed household, Black and Filipino, and was raised by my grandmother. As of today, I still reside in my hometown and currently finishing up my last year of studies for my BA in Professional Writing and Communications. Aside from writing, I have a strong passion for gardening, hiking, painting, photography, and film.

I see that you are from California. I find that my roots in Vermont have definitely made an impact on my own writing style. How do you think the California landscape and vibe has seeped into your own creative pieces?

I love this question. As a poet, I’m either maximizing the tiniest of details and minimizing the greatest of details. As a novelist, I think other writers may relate when I say I do this constantly. When I look around me, and especially when I reflect on what it means to live in Southern California, some of the first things that come to my mind are agriculture, warmth, and earth tones. These same things seem to somehow make its way into the stories I write, some way or another. I Only Have Marmalade is a funny example. It wasn’t the final revision that I became aware of how often I referenced  the sun, warmer colors, or  ‘’heat.’’ The repetition was so obvious that I ended up removing a couple poems because they sounded so alike. 

When I look around me, and especially when I reflect on what it means to live in Southern California, some of the first things that come to my mind are agriculture, warmth, and earth tones. These same things seem to somehow make its way into the stories I write, some way or another.

What do you believe to be your purpose in life, and how does being a writer allow you to fulfill it?

My  general take on it is that my true purpose in life is to continue living without expectations. When it comes to writing, however, I’ve always looked at the purpose of my efforts relating more to exploring and exposing  the complexity of human relationships, race, culture, class structure, and forms of government. It’s not that I want to prove a certain idea or example in my writing. But if I can prompt  my readers to challenge the bigger picture of  that one thing, or to question the morals of my characters or how their world is an allegory to reality, I’d like to think I’ve done something right.

Who would you say have served as your biggest inspirations in life?

Two things: my family and nature. 

What do you want to be remembered for?

At the most, a storyteller.

As a Black author, how does your race inform and shape your writing?

Being Black, and specifically mixed myself, I am incredibly aware of how the Black experience, the bi-racial experience, and the non-Black/POC experience can differ. When it comes to fiction, my first and primary goal is to ensure my main characters are Black. And if not Black, the side characters, if White, should not give into any form of sugarcoating to ‘’make better’’ of their uglier traits or assumed social privilege.  I find this so critical in literature, the representation and my own understanding of what representation means to me or a Black reader. Growing up, and aside from an African folklore book a family friend gifted me, I don’t recall ever coming across a mainstream Fantasy or Science Fiction title that had a Black protagonist, let alone a Black protagonist that was treated with such care and development in a supernatural setting. So when writing a story like Blue Goes the Wind, which is told from the perspective of a Black woman and her retelling of a series of events that happened when she was twelve, I am constantly reminding myself of the disappointments I faced when I was younger…when I didn’t have a character like BGTW’s Margot Lee to refer to. So, I suppose race shapes my writing because I know exactly what it’s like to read a book from a genre you love and not see yourself in it, or not know how or where you would place yourself in the plot.

When it comes to fiction, my first and primary goal is to ensure my main characters are Black. And if not Black, the side characters, if White, should not give into any form of sugarcoating to ‘’make better’’ of their uglier traits or assumed social privilege.

What are your top three favorite books?

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou), and most recently Conjure Women Afia Atakora.

In reading your poems, I find myself captivated by your earthen imagery. If asked to describe the body of your work solely in images, I would describe golden fields, blooming flowers, seeds in rows, and hidden storms on the horizon. Why is it that in your writing you so often return to these images of nature?

I think it goes back to my relationship with Southern California. These things seem to almost crawl  around, in a subconscious way, in the main center of my work. But aside from that, there’s just so many things nature can offer, be it relief from the main climax or some moral lesson.

If you could have dinner with any person at all (from any time period) and ask them one question, who would you choose and what would you ask? And just for a special touch, what food would you serve?

Audrey Hepburn, hands down. I’d serve some kind of floral tea and maybe something vegetarian (I read somewhere she didn’t eat meat much). If I could ask her anything I’d ask, What was it like to be Audrey Hepburn?

It’s my understanding that you enjoy painting in addition to writing. Where did you learn to paint and what is different about the experience of creating on a canvas rather than on a computer screen/notebook?

 To my earliest memory, I sketched and illustrated in my free time throughout grade school. But it was always just for fun. Nowadays, I tend to paint as a form of art therapy. I don’t have much experience with virtual creating, but when it comes to acrylic the experience is just so personal. When painting, I develop a relationship to the colors I’m using and what moods they represent.  I get lost in the image very quickly, and by the time I’m done whatever anxiety I had before is practically gone because I’m so worn down.

When painting, I develop a relationship to the colors I’m using and what moods they represent.

What do you believe constitutes art?

Soul and rhythm. Even the most unintentional ‘’art’’ holds a sense of identity from the original creator.

A poem of yours that I really love for its soulful authenticity is below:

What meaning does the dark and the light take on as symbols in this beautiful poem? This poem led me to reflect on the recent tragedies of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and others, were they also on your mind while writing?

For this particular poem, my primary focus was race and the psychological  impact of White supremacy. But absolutely, yes. The tragic nature of their deaths can most certainly connect to the poem’s narrative of taking something that should be accessible, such as equality for all or basic human rights, and injecting one’s own forms of bias to determine who gets what and when.

I was so excited to learn that you will be releasing your debut book I Only Have Marmalade shortly. What can our readers expect to find in this book? When will it be released for purchase? What was the experience of writing your first book like?

Writing I Only Have Marmalade was such an interesting experience because I actually never intended to make it into a full length book. Back when I first started drafting it (very early 2019), I was facing writer’s block with what would be the first draft of Blue Goes the Wind. I turned to poetry as a form of creative relief, and soon came this collection of poems I had yet to even publish online. That’s when the idea of a poetry book came about. As of today, IOHM is being considered by a couple presses. My hope is that it will be accepted by 2021. But if  that doesn’t happen, I will likely consider self-publishing. 

Back when I first started drafting it (very early 2019), I was facing writer’s block with what would be the first draft of Blue Goes the Wind. I turned to poetry as a form of creative relief, and soon came this collection of poems I had yet to even publish online.

You are a self-described “crazy plant lady,” so I have to ask, if you were a plant, which plant would you be?

Calathea Medallion. They’re very sweet and pretty from afar, but they can be dramatic as hell.

On your website, you have an incredible quote that stuck with me: “Being a storyteller means baring your ribcage all while having the world sew your chest back together with their own rhetoric. And that’s a hard thing to do, to not close up.” How do you keep yourself from closing up in a world that makes it so scary to be vulnerable?

For me, it’s not a matter of keeping but surviving. If you want to survive, you  have to try  just as much as you unlearn. Keeping balance between the two can be  hard. But as long as it’s an honest effort, to me, as a culture being vulnerable isn’t a scary thing but a natural thing.