Maddie Martinez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has a BA in Political Science from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts and an MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University in Washington, DC. You can now find Maddie in New York City, filling her tiny apartment with an unwieldy number of books. The Maiden and Her Monster is her first novel.

I had the opportunity to interview Maddie Martinez, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourselves?

I’m so happy to be here, thanks for having me! I’m Maddie Martinez, I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico but live in New York City now. I have a bachelor’s in political science from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and a master’s in international peace and conflict resolution from American University in Washington, DC. I enjoy using both my academic background and my personal interest in folklore and history to inspire my fiction work.

What can you tell us about your debut book, The Maiden and Her Monster? What was the inspiration for this story? 

Of course! The Maiden and Her Monster is a sapphic reimagining of the Jewish myth of golem. Malka, a healer’s daughter, ventures into a cursed forest to hunt the monster who has been killing the girls of her village. She finds the monster she’s looking for, but it’s not who she expects: a disgraced golem who agrees to turn herself in, if and only if, Malka helps her free the imprisoned rabbi who created her first, which unravels a much more complicated political plot and forces Malka to face growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.

I was largely inspired to write this story by the history of Jewry in late medieval Prague and my own family history of fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe. Also, I really wanted to write a story about a hot monster in the woods!

As a writer, what drew you to the art of storytelling, particularly speculative fiction and romance?

I’ve always been a storyteller! I was actually just back in my childhood home visiting, and found a notebook of stories I wrote when I was in elementary school. They were silly, but reminded me that I truly have always loved to dream up stories. As for why I gravitate toward SFF and romance specifically, I love the breadth and freedom spec fic offers to explore very human ideas and themes. Romantic subplots are also fun to play with, because they offer a great way to add foils, tension, and payoff to a story!

As a queer and Jewish reader, myself, I love seeing more books that cover this intersection. What does it mean to you as a queer and Jewish writer to write such representation into your work?

Me too, I’m so happy and honored to contribute to the already lush canon of queer Jewish stories out there! 

What I love so much about Judaism and queerness is that both are so incredibly diverse in perspective and experience. There are endless stories you could tell in this intersection and still bring something new to it every time. It meant a lot to me to write this representation because both Judaism and queerness shape how I see the world—and thus, shapes me as a storyteller. In The Maiden and Her Monster, there’s constant questioning. Belonging and community are big themes. So is resilience. All aspects of symbiosis between Judaism and queerness. 

How would you describe your creative process?

Chaotic, everchanging! Usually when I get the spark for an idea it’ll be a bit of dialogue, a flash of a moment. For The Maiden and Her Monster it was the first line: The forest ate the girls who wandered out after dark. After that, I tend to be a theme-first writer. Once I nail down what themes I want to have a conversation within the book, I build out the plot and characters! I also am inspired by history in all of my work, and usually there’s a period of time and place that I think may support the themes of the story best. 

What are some of your favorite elements of writing? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging?

I love line editing. There’s something so delicious about being done with the biggest developmental hurdles of a book and sharpening it on a line level. I think it’s during this stage where I can start imagining my story as a real book! For me, the hardest part of writing is that first developmental edit after you write a first draft. It’s so daunting and can feel like staring up at the top of a mountain you’re about to climb.

As authors, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration in general?

I find inspiration from so many places! Musicals are a great source of creative influence to me, which I think some people might not expect! But I love the medium so much. There’s something so magical about the musical formula: if you can no longer communicate enough emotion through speech, you sing. If that’s not powerful enough, you dance. 

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

Nobody has yet asked me what Hozier song best encapsulates this book so I will answer! It’s In the Woods Somewhere. Overcoming darkness and consuming grief after encountering something in the woods that reshapes the protagonist’s perspective? Oh, yeah. 

What advice might you have to give for any aspiring writers out there?

It’s an annoying answer but truly—you can’t edit a blank page! You have to fight so many demons while drafting. At this early stage, the manuscript is not like the books you read on shelves; it’s in bad shape. Maybe the prose is ridiculously clunky, maybe you have plot holes galore, or perhaps you forgot about a plot-important plague halfway through the book (guilty). I think this period trips up so many writers, even experienced writers, because it’s hard to disregard all that and just get words down and finish that draft. The magic comes in editing. So pushing through the discomfort is my advice!

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

My next book coming out with Tor is another dark sapphic fantasy standalone, but is more of a traditional gothic romance! It retells a very popular gothic tale… but I think that’s all I’m able to say for now! 

Finally, what books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT? 

Books already out!

• The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li
• Black Salt Queen by Samantha Bansil
• A Song of Silver and Gold by Melissa Karibian
• House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

Forthcoming titles!

• An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole
• When they Burned the Butterfly by Wen-Yi Lee