Mark Oshiro, New York Times bestselling author, knows their stuff when it comes to middle grade novels. They recently collaborated with author Rick Riordan, known for his fantasy series Percy Jackson, on two novels focusing on Riordan’s beloved characters, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, with the second book having just come out Sept. 23. Oshiro has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, received a Schneider Family Book Award and appeared on several shortlists such as the NPR Best Books of 2020.
“Sometimes the most mundane moments from my life, I can write a story out of,” Oshiro said.
The College of William and Mary welcomed Oshiro as part of the Hayes Writer series, sponsored by the English and creative writing departments Sept. 10. Professor Addie Tsai moderated the event, and Olivia Marshall ’26 interviewed Oshiro, with Marshall having been a fan of their work for years.
Oshiro has become intertwined with the Percy Jackson fandom, collaborating with Rick Riordan on “The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure,” released in May 2023, and the newly-released sequel “The Court of the Dead.” Riordan approached Oshiro to collaborate on Nico and Will’s story, given Oshiro’s experience writing books from a queer perspective. He hoped they could bring that sense of realism to the story.
Oshiro described the collaboration experience as “surreal,” especially because Riordan’s stories came with a pre-existing fandom and characters.
“There are points of it that were very scary because these are beloved characters that someone else wrote, and now they’re in my hands, and I want to do them right,” Oshiro said.
Within their individual work, Oshiro has also explored queerness through the lens of middle grade fantasy and fiction. Oshiro explained that they focused on that genre particularly to help middle grade readers explore complex themes from the perspective of someone experiencing the world at a young age.
Oshiro felt there was a lot of themself in the protagonist, Xochitl, of their fantasy novel, “Each of Us a Desert.” In addition to writing a thoroughly relatable character, Oshiro set out in that novel to write a more autobiographical character than they had before.
“There are moments, thoughts, emotions that this main character has that are very close to what I have experienced,” Oshiro said. “I don’t know that I’ll want to do it again, but it is actually the book I’m most proud of.”
Marshall also saw herself in Xochitl’s character, saying that “Each of Us a Desert” was an impactful read for her because of Xochitl’s relatable struggles as an eldest daughter.
“The societal and family pressure that she’s under, especially at the beginning of the book, and thinking she has no one to turn to, is something I’ve felt before,” Marshall said.
“Each of Us a Desert” follows a common theme in Oshiro’s books of belonging and found family. Marshall mentioned this while interviewing Oshiro at the event, elaborating later that she particularly resonated with the idea of the characters finding a sense of belonging and themselves in the process.
“By the end of the book, they truly are and understand themselves,” Marshall said. “I feel like that’s something so important, especially in the developmental years of college.”
Oshiro named their experiences growing up queer in Southern California as the reason why belonging and found family are such a large element of their books. This was also a reason why they chose to write middle grade novels, as it is such a transitional period in people’s lives.
“For me, middle grade is that sweet spot of, you’re just starting to figure out your place in your local community, in your family, with your friends,” Oshiro said.
Even before middle school, Oshiro began to find themself, having found a deep love for writing at a young age. Oshiro knew they were interested in writing from the age of eight, when they picked up a copy of Stephen King’s “It” out of a box of books their older sister had left behind when she moved out. They describe the feeling of reading “It” as a high they have been chasing ever since, with both reading and writing their own books.
“I was having those feelings of ‘this feels magical, how is this human able to write words and put a picture in my mind that feels so vivid and alive?’” Oshiro said.
Oshiro began writing chapter books based on the Goosebumps series, their first taste of writing horror, at the age of 10. This turned into a series they dubbed “Terrifying Tales” that they distributed at their elementary school for other students to check out from the library.
“I don’t think I processed that at the time, but looking back, I’m like, ‘Oh, I was receiving positive reinforcement, this is something that I’m good at,’” Oshiro said.
Knowing they wanted to pursue writing in any form, Oshiro became a journalist and pop culture writer after college, writing book and TV reviews. It was not until their first book was published at age 34 that they realized a childhood dream was coming true.
“I had what felt like not a full life,” Oshiro said. “It wasn’t like I was done with life, but it was very much this dream I had since I was a kid hasn’t happened yet. And so I think even as I got the book deal, even as that book was being edited, I’m like, it’s not real. It had to actually come out.”
Oshiro emphasized that even though they had an idea of what they wanted to do in the future, following through on it later in life did not invalidate the fact that they achieved it eventually.
“I think there’s this idea that you have to be in the career you’re going to have for the rest of your life the second you leave college, and if you don’t, it’ll never happen,” Oshiro said.
Now that they have started writing books, they have not stopped. When it comes to their drafting process, Oshiro thrives on organized chaos. Their story ideas begin with a pinned note listing the ideas as well as the date, time, their location and current feelings. From there, they get the outline down as well as the last sentence of the book.
Music fuels the entire process. Oshiro uses playlists for each mood and book, adding to them while drafting to get into the flow of writing.
“If I’m out in public, I always make sure to bring my headphones so that I can just have music playing, but it allows me to get into the mood or the headspace a lot easier,” Oshiro said.
Even though the drafting process itself usually takes 30-60 days, and editing takes longer, Oshiro emphasized that the point of writing is to enjoy the process. Their outlook on writing is that sometimes work you would deem ‘good enough’ gets you to the next step and, ultimately, towards a work that you’re proud of.
“I want to write good books and good stories that people enjoy, but I don’t need them to be perfect, especially drafts that no one is going to see,” Oshiro said. “I get why perfectionism happens, but maybe we can let it go.”
