Her real interest lay in fiction writing, but she initially was unsuccessful in selling her works to magazines. At sixteen, Hawes secretly began work on her first novel, while continuing to try to sell stories to magazines. In 1832, she won a contest held by "The Southern Era" with her serial novel, "Kate Harper", which was published under the pen name Marion Harland. At this time, Hawes shared her completed novel "Alone" with her two siblings. She edited it for submission to the largest bookstore in Richmond, which sporadically also published books. After the novel was rejected, her father paid the owner to have it published in 1854.