I first stumbled upon Mia García’s books thanks to an auction for No Kids in Cages, where I won a package from her. I devoured The Resolutions in one sitting, relishing in the ensemble cast and their lives and troubles, people who who resembled me and my friends. After that, I’ve been obsessed with Mia’s work, and thus needed to interview her about her writing, romcoms, and friendships.
Both Even If the Sky Falls and The Resolutions follow Latinx teens trying to find their own way in this world while also dealing with their own issues. What draws you to writing Latinx teens going on adventures while still balancing their inner lives?
I wrote a whole paragraph about how much I love pop-culture and was raised consuming so, so, many movies and TV, and have wanted to see Latinx in Space for so long before realizing that’s not the question you were asking. HA.
Or maybe it is? I apologize in advance for any run-on sentences and answers that make no sense, I’ve had very little sleep.
But I’ve devoured adventures like Star Wars, X-Men, Labyrinth, Jurassic Park, and more since I was a child. In the absence of actual named Puerto Rican characters I just accepted they were all Puerto Rican (after all, the Latinx community is not a monolith, we don’t look like anything, so it’s not so far fetched), but, as I grew older, and honestly, more tired, this was a hard pill to swallow.
Why was Ferris Bueller the only person who could skip school and have a fun day? Why were we still getting Latinx characters played by non-Latinx white people with a spray tan (looking at you Aliens and Mask of Zorro)? Though, shout-out to Raul Julía for taking Gomez Addams for all Puerto Ricans. He’s ours forever, that’s how it works.
But, seriously, why didn’t I see Puerto Rican kids (or anyone else in the Latinx community) find a magical book thus leading them (with mezclita sandwiches in hand) on an adventure that will eventually fulfill a magical prophesy that has been in the works for thousands of years!?! Or become a slayer? (We would be VERY good slayers.) Or travel to Middle Earth.
And, of course, because they’re complex characters they bring with them history, worries, hopes, and so much more; they grow, they fail, and they learn. I want my characters to go on adventures while balancing their inner lives, because they’re complete people to me, and they have to be in order for the audience to care for them, to root for them, and to hold their breaths when they’re in trouble.
In The Resolutions, you provided a group of teens who have different personalities, yet would go to bat for each other no matter what. What makes a good, healthy friendship, fictional or otherwise?
Woo! That’s a tough question. Wow, this is deep, Adriana!
I think what I love about these four is that they allow themselves to be who they are. They cheer each other on and call each other out when they are being stubborn or working against their own self-interest.
No one else has to love movies as much as Lee does, but if she wants to do a 11-hour Lord of the Rings marathon they’ll take turns eating far too much popcorn with her, or save her seat at the movie theater if she’s late. They’ll cheer Nora on while she tries and recreate every recipe from the Great British Bake Off (to varying degrees of success), and so on.
Also, because they want each other to be happy, healthy, and more, calling each other out is so important to the relationship, because sometimes we don’t always have our best interest at heart.
And, because I’m a softy, that’s the kind of friendship I always try and create, like we don’t always have to love the same things, but I’m here for the happiness that the thing you love gives you, as long as it’s not detrimental to your health, you know?
Honestly, I get a bit tired of shitty friendships. Like, give me companionship, give me shared silences that balance the soul, give me friends that remember your fave kind of cookie and buy you one just cuz, give me friends who can tell the difference when you text “K” and “sure,” and while they don’t understand why you love spiders so much, Sephora was having a sale on spider nail stickers and they got you two.
Those are the kind of friendships I like and they are just as complex and needed.
You’ve said that you wanted The Resolutions to read like a John Hughes movie for Latinx. One could say that the book is an amalgamation of The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. What could make or break a book that’s a YA rom-com?
I think a lot depends on your respect and love for the genre you’re writing in and the audience you’re writing for. If you’re going to write a rom-com or a YA of any genre because you think it’s easy, or you “can do it better” then you’re starting off on the wrong foot.
I truly think in order to grow a genre, and break boundaries, you have to genuinely love it. You have to know its ins and outs, its faults, its delights, and its geniuses.
I can’t remember who called The Resolutions a Latinx Breakfast Club, but thank you, because that’s what I use now! Deep down John Hughes movies were always about quiet moments in a teen’s life and the echoes that follow a certain event. They connected to certain audiences because they treated their main characters with the same respect adults were usually given in dramatic movies (granted this does not excuse its sexism and racism).
You have free reins to collab with another Latinx creative and they’re free and on board as well, who are you picking and what are you making?
Anyone who is better at writing plots than I am! But, seriously, plots are hard and I always need help. My characters like to walk along forests contemplating life while I stare at the page going, “um, you going to do something, or what?”
Keeping that in mind I would follow Zoraida Córdova anywhere!
How does your identity affect your writing?
Looking back at my old scribbles, there were always bits of myself in there, my hopes, my worries, my love of the weird, but I never went as far as naming the character as Puerto Rican, and speaking directly to my culture, and I’m not sure why.
I think its somewhere in that disconnect of growing up in Puerto Rico and being steeped in it, but not seeing it in the media I consumed, and sort of the back and forth conflicts and balance of what you love and what you want…does that make sense?
Now that I fully embrace and weave my self and culture into everything I do it’s such a joy to see what can be created – because I am nothing if not pop-culture references, gallows humor, and random Puerto Rican sayings.
Who do you write for?
Latinx nerds like me. You. Me. Maybe that person over there? (*Waives*) People who like humor and sadness intermingling; people who make too many pop-culture references in a conversation; kids that grew up watching movies they were way too young to see and still watch movies they are “too old” to watch.
What movie(s) would you pair your book with?
For The Resolutions maybe The Edge of Seventeen and Say Anything and for Even If the Sky Falls… Nick and Norah’s Infinite Play List! How’d I do?
Shoutout a Latinx writer or creator whom you admire!
All y’all. But I’m always checking out what Lilliam Rivera, Gabby Rivera, Anna-Marie McLemore, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mark Oshiro, and Zoraida are doing next.
And of course, Las Musas, I’m in awe that I get to hang with them every single day and am eternally grateful for their friendship and jealous of their accomplishments.
Anything else you can share about your upcoming projects?
I have a few things percolating. One of them is very different from anything I’ve ever done before and it makes me very nervous. My friend NoNieqa Ramos jokes that I’m working of a Gif-based anthology, which is funny, but mainly I get inspired by a lot of the gifs she uses and I write little short stories based off of them. Maybe one day I’ll gather them all into something.
Even If The Sky Falls and The Resolutions are available now!
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Mia García
M. García was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She moved to New York where she studied creative writing at The New School, worked in publishing, and lived under a pile of to-be-read books. She is the author of Even If the Sky Falls and The Resolutions from Katherine Tegen books (an imprint of HarperCollins). You can find her at www.mgarciawrites.com.