PW: Middle Grade from the Author’s Desk
I was recently featured in a Publishers Weekly article, Middle Grade from the Author’s Desk about my transition from writing young adult to writing middle grade. You can read the full article here. Not all of my interview was included, so I’m sharing the Q&A in its entirety below.
1. Why do you write for middle grade readers?
When I’m conceptualizing a story, the characters dictate so much in terms of genre, age category, themes, plot, etc. When Omega appeared to me, it was clear she wasn’t a teen protagonist. I’d already ventured into picture books at that point, although those projects hadn’t been announced yet, so it was really exciting to have this middle grade idea fall in my lap.
Tehlor Kay Mejia and Kaela Rivera have done a beautiful job of writing similar stories from Mexican and Chicano folklore for middle grade readers but I think setting my series in Texas with a Chicana/Tejana main character is going to provide readers with a really unique perspective and I’m so excited for Latinx middle grade readers, and specifically Tejano middle grade readers to see themselves in Omega and her family. And I’m even more excited to continue to be able to write books in this new space and in turn make this newly developing Latinx middle grade literary canon even more inclusive and robust.
2. What do you like about it?
I started drafting OMEGA during the summer of 2020 because I needed an escape and it quickly became this playground where my imagination could just run wild, completely free from the stresses of daily life. I needed that place to play. To experiment. To hope. And the more I wrote, the more that hope grew, which I think is at the core of what makes middle grade so special. Because there is this emphasis on hope and possibility and what could be if we just believe. And that’s precisely what I love about writing in this age category--that it reminds me to hope.
3. What are some of the challenges you have encountered in writing for this age group? Can you talk about how you may have worked through those challenges?
The trickiest part of moving from Young Adult to Middle Grade is getting the voice right. I needed a lot of help with this first manuscript but luckily I had my editor and various copy editors to guide me through the process of making those changes. It took several passes of going through the diction with a fine toothed comb but the benefit of all of that work is that now the voice is coming to me much more naturally as I’m drafting the sequel.
4. Have your middle grade readers taught you anything about your writing?
I’m so excited to meet middle grade readers when OMEGA comes out in September but since I haven’t yet had the privilege, one important thing I’ve learned on my own as I’ve developed this series and am now in the weeds of drafting book two, is that joy is extremely delicate, and can be extinguished by all sorts of things. Self-doubt, burnout, not truly being present.
I’ve learned that it’s important to do things both in my personal and creative life that stoke that joy and keep it burning, whether that’s writing in a new genre or age category like I did with OMEGA or simply taking my dogs on a daily walk; having a warm cup of cocoa or making writing dates with friends. These things are so essential to keeping that joy for the work alive, which is the only way to ensure you’re getting out of it as much as you’re putting in.
5. How do you characterize/define MG literature to someone who isn’t familiar? (e.g.“You write middle grade? What’s that?”)
I would define middle grade literature as a home for the feelings and experiences of being on the precipice of wonder. When the world unfurls itself and we begin to see the true horizon of things. When that truth still feels a bit like magic.
6. Can you tell us about something new that you’re working on?
As previously mentioned I’m currently working on the sequel to OMEGA MORALES AND THE LEGEND OF LA LECHUZA. The second book picks up immediately after the events of the first book with the town of Noche Buena celebrating Día de Muertos until an unexpected visitor arrives to crash the party.