Young (Mexican) Americans

In the last decade, author and Oxnard native Michele Serros’ fame has grown beyond Ventura County — with the release of two new young-adult novels in two years and being named one of Newsweek’s “Women to Watch in the New Century” — but she found the time to sit down with the Reporter at Panama Joe’s last week, to discuss Mexican luaus, surfing at Mondos, Rock of Love and her latest release, ¡Scandalosa!.

VCR: One of the things that struck me about ¡Scandalosa! was all the discussion of “serious” teenager issues, like drug and alcohol use, which made it pretty different from the young adult novels I read growing up.

MS: I remember growing up reading Judy Blume, and even she had controversial stuff in her books, like Deenie discovering her body. So I guess there is always something that can make a book controversial. I don’t know if I would have included those references on my own, but as I was beginning to spend more time with younger kids or even just being on MySpace, hearing the language and the issues, I thought, “Wow, this is more serious than I thought.” I did feel pressure because I have associations with a lot of schools all over the country and I would have high school faculty asking me if it was going to be school friendly, and I just tried to think, “Who am I writing for, the teachers or the students?”

If that’s the reality, that’s important to students when they are reading books at their age.

And there are plenty of books I’ve loved that don’t have any of those references, too. Part of it was, when I was approached to do the two books — Honey Blonde Chica and ¡Scandalosa! — it was through a book packager that had success with the Gossip Girl series, and they came to me and said, “We want a Latina/West Coast version of Gossip Girl.” So it’s not necessarily the book I would set out to write, but more of a position I had to fill. It’s just not Michele Serros; this is my story I had to get off my chest.

So how does this book transition from your earlier works which are more prose/poetry or short stories, and based on your life? How did you move into the Honey Blonde Chica novels?

In the past, I had the big, therapeutic privilege of writing my own voice. I had a small advance from the earlier publishers, I was doing a lot of radio work for NPR. My voice was important. But this, because it was approached as a job, with a large advance, I had to follow some guidelines, and there was a division of compromise versus selling out. For example, the cover of the book. You really don’t have a say in the cover of the book, unless you’re Stephen King. The earlier models were 20-somethings with lip jobs, and the publishers said, “This is what young girls like.” And I just said, “No. This character is an athletic girl, she is real.” I’m really fortunate that they listened to me. After all this back-and-forth, they really came through for me.

I also wanted the characters to be working, upper-class. I, being a Chicana Studies major from UCLA, I think the stories of immigration and struggle are so important, but there are other stories, too. I read a review where they called Evie [Gomez, the main character] a spoiled brat, and I was like, “All right!” At least she’s not a gang member or something! But it was a struggle. It was 2005 when we started in New York City. I’m working with editors who say they came from an English background. They were well-read, but they’re very New York-centric. So, a lot of the Ventura culture, they didn’t get it. If it wasn’t happening in New York, they didn’t think it belonged in the book.

Are there plans to continue the Honey Blonde Chica series?

I hope so! We’ll see how the sales go, what interest is like, and maybe it really will turn into the Gossip Girl series.

I had another book [How to Be a Chicana Role Model] and the publishers sent me a letter that said, “Due to lack of sales and interest, we’re going to no longer publish this book.” It was so depressing! My agent advised me to buy the remaining copies and sell them at my signings, even though I had no idea how many there were. When they delivered them to my home in New York, it was so humbling. No one wanted my baby. My whole living room stunk of cardboard, because there were so many boxes. So we’ll see how these go.

How is your process of writing different when you’re working within someone else’s guidelines, and it’s not as much your own idea or voice?

Well, when I plot, I do it a lot through dialogue, or a feeling. But for ¡Scandalosa!, I had to plot this out beginning, middle and end, up front, before it could be accepted. For me, having an ending to a project before you begin is pretty artificial. And as a result, I was constantly changing right up to the last minute. It was like television writing, because it had to be done so quickly.

You mentioned being on MySpace and talking to young people. What kind of research did you have to do for this book, to keep it contemporary?

I think through the e-mails and letters I get from students. Since I’m lucky enough to have speaking engagements, going out with the students I meet has been really great. Being back home here, just hanging out with my younger cousins, it really wasn’t something I had to seek out, just keep my ears open for.

Be honest: How much Laguna Beach did you watch under the guise of research?

Oh, I do get sucked in, and it’s not even research! I don’t have the television on a lot, but I do get pulled into shows. They become events. I have to have the right snacks, I don’t take phone calls. I like Rock of Love, with that guy from Poison. I’m such a sucker for that stuff.

How did your 16th birthday compare to Evie’s major Mexican luau at Duke’s in Malibu?

Oh, it was nothing as good as that. I didn’t even have a party. I did have a boyfriend, and his father picked me up in El Rio, and he took me out to dinner at the Chart House. I remember feeling so grown up, and I did keep that feeling of being little adults in the book. I didn’t have a quinceañera when I turned 15. I’m fourth generation and no one in my family did that. I didn’t want to fall into Evie having a quinceañera. I am just burned out on that, it’s such a clichéd Latina rite of passage, so I made up the sixteenera. ¡Scandalosa! isn’t even a real Spanish word, actually, but it’s the way the girls talk, and I wanted it to be authentic, not traditional.

What can we expect at the book party?

So, in the book, Evie has a Mexican luau, so we’re going to replicate that at Barnes & Noble. Plus, a lot of the local businesses mentioned in the book are going to donate gift certificates that you can win in the drawing there, like Michael Kelly, Pete’s Breakfast House, Anacapa Surf and Sport.

Why do you write? What does writing mean to you, and how does ¡Scandalosa! fit into that?

Well, I guess I took this job in the same way I did writing for The George Lopez Show. I complain a lot about Latina representation in the media and in literature, but given an opportunity to change it, I’m like, “I don’t want to do that.” So my friends said, “Well, don’t complain anymore.” So even if it’s not completely my story, my idea, I still have some contribution.

I’m constantly being compared to Sandra Cisneros, and I think that’s because there aren’t that many Latina writers out there. Some of the reviews I get online, people say, “If you really want to read quality Latina literature” and they name all these other writers. But I grew up in a different world. I grew up with the remote controls. I never made tortillas with my grandma. It would be so fake if I tried to write like those other women. They are beautiful, and I value them, but that’s not my reality. So even if it’s not my story, I do take a lot from my own life — mainly the Ventura County references. Plus, I totally had a crush on a guy named Alex Perez!