Grow Your Writing with M.M.
M. M. Olivas is an alumna of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop, the Lambda Literary Workshop, and has an MFA in creative writing from San Jose State University. Olivas is an Ignyte finalist, and her work has featured on the Stoker Awards longlist. She is also a finalist for the 2023 Small Spec Book Awards for Best Horror Novel. Olivas’ fiction has appeared to critical acclaim in Uncanny, Apex, Weird Horror, and Bourbon Penn Magazine. As a trans, first-generation Chicana, Olivas explores the intersection of queer and diasporic experiences in her fiction. Her debut novel, Sundown in San Ojuela, portrays how Mexico’s indigenous and colonial pasts haunt the present. Olivas currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and in her free time, collects transforming robots.
More information about Olivas and her fiction can be found at olivasthewriter.wtf.
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Decide if M.M. is Right for You with Our Mentor Interview
What excites you most about writing?
“I am most excited about writing as a mode of exorcising the strange and abstract manifestations of my own consciousness onto the page through the fantastical. To better understand myself, and hope to resonate with other marginalized people living in similar realities to my own,” M.M. said.
What mindset does a writer need to grow?
“A writer must adopt a mindset that is queer—a mindset that is expansive and everchanging and resilience. One that exists outside of any defined binary or border, to challenge oneself, to look at the deeper, more vulnerable parts of their identity, and to face them. To be willing to learn and grow with the desire to learn more about one’s self, and the community that surrounds you.”
What three words would describe you as a mentor?
“Charismatic, transparent, encouraging.“
What makes a good writing mentor?
“A good writing mentor is someone who can read a piece and approach it with kindness, and the desire to focus on the author’s intent and desired outcome of a story, regardless of genre. A good writing mentor is also someone who can go beyond offering feedback in the classroom by discussing how one’s identity and lived experiences affects their work. A good writing mentor is just as willing to learn from their students as much as they want their students to learn from them.”
What is your style of feedback?
“My workshop style is open and conversational, with feedback structured as questions meant to provoke deep, critical thinking for the author regarding their intentionality with the elements of their story. My workshop style exists in opposition to the silent, Milford-style workshop, a workshop that often alienates writers of marginalized backgrounds. My critique style refocus feedback not around the critique’s tastes in what they believe is successful within the narrative, but more so around the intensions of the author.”
What was the most recent "standout" book you read?
“The most recent “standout” book for me has been Gretchen Felker Martin’s Cuckoo. It quickly became my favorite book of 2024 due to how well Martin is able to depict the real horrors those of us from the queer community face daily, while also writing incredibly honest, nuanced, and even messy queer characters, I felt reflected my own experiences as a trans woman of color. This novel made a nest in the corner of my mind and has remained there ever since.”