The Author: Marcela Fuentes
The Book: Malas (Viking, 2024)
The Elevator Pitch: A historical novel, family saga, and coming of age story set on the Texas–Mexico border, following the lives of two women.
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The Rumpus: Where did the idea of your book come from?
Marcela Fuentes: It began as a fairytale in a graduate seminar I took at Iowa.
Rumpus: How long did it take to write the book?
Fuentes: Many years! Probably more than ten, though I wasn’t working on it the entire time. It took me a long time to commit myself to the book.
Rumpus: Is this the first book you’ve written? If not, what made it the first to be published?
Fuentes: Yes, though I was working on a story collection at the same time (and sold it as well).
Rumpus: In submitting the book, how many no’s did you get before your yes?
Fuentes: I was incredibly lucky. My book went to auction and sold in twelve days.
Rumpus: Which authors/writers buoyed you along the way? How?
Fuentes: Mentors/teachers: Elizabeth McCracken and especially Manuel Muñoz. Both of them are incredibly thoughtful and generous readers.
Rumpus: How did your book change over the course of working on it?
Fuentes: I first thought I was writing a supernatural horror story. Then I thought I needed to write in a male perspective, but it turned out to be about real horrors and the lives of two women.
Rumpus: Before your first book, where has your work been published?
Fuentes: Indiana Review, The Rumpus (!), Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and others.
Rumpus: What is the best advice someone gave you about publishing?
Fuentes: Don’t try to predict what people want to read; write what you want to write.
Rumpus: Who’s the reader you’re writing to—or tell us about your target audience and how you cultivated or found it?
Fuentes: I’m writing for anyone who likes a messy, drama-filled story with secrets and hilarious family problems, but also for my Latinx community.
Rumpus: What is one completely unexpected thing that surprised you about the process of getting your book published?
Fuentes: Being on Good Morning America and everything about being their book club pick.
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Author photograph by Paula N. Luu
