An Interview with Leslie Adame, Author of Chloe Vega and the Agents of Magic
Author Interview #11
Leslie Adame is a first-generation Mexican American and graduate of UCLA with a degree in political science and a minor in film, television, and digital media. She’s always enjoyed giving back and telling stories about characters not often found in books or films. Leslie grew up in the Inland Empire, specifically Ontario, California. When she’s not writing, you can find Leslie scanning the aisles of your local bookstore, lovingly pestering her family, and catching a flight to explore a new place. She loves watching rom-coms, Disney movies, and trashy reality TV in her spare time, especially while cuddling with her cat.
First things first, I found out you had a Threads account because of a post you made about your sister convincing you to watch K-pop Demon Hunters. It was the Event of the Summer and the Soundtrack of the Summer, but which song was the Song of the Summer?
Leslie: What It Sounds Like speaks to me on a deep level, so I would say that one!
AC: I love that one, too!
I’ve taught ESL in Japan and a frequent question I got asked by my younger students is what is my favorite kanji (which changes constantly) and what is my favorite word in English (always ‘community’). I’m going to ask you that question: What is your favorite word in English and what is your favorite word in Spanish?
Leslie: I think the word vitamin is interesting, especially since people say it differently depending on where they come from. In Spanish, I love a good tongue twister, and parangaricutirimícuaro is a good one. That’s why I added it in CHLOE VEGA.
What is your favorite Jenni Rivera song?
Leslie: Ya Lo Se is a classic, especially when you’re signing it with your family.
I was blown away by how Chloe Vega’s themes of deportation worked with the common MG trope of the parents disappearing at the beginning of the book. It was a very fresh spin on one of the most classic of MG ideas. How did you decide to use that trope in this way?
Leslie: It happened naturally. I don’t usually lead with tropes when I write a book. I write what calls to me, and I felt a calling to tell this story. It just so happened that it worked out perfectly for MG.
Chloe Vega is obviously very timely and discusses deportation in a very frank manner. What are you hoping young people are going to take away from Chloe’s story if they have never interacted with this topic before? What conversations are you hoping it is going to open up with parents?
Leslie: I think CHLOE VEGA is written in a way that it is digestible for readers. That way it’s not painful to read for those who relate to Chloe’s experiences and is also informative for those who can’t. My hope is that this story sheds a light on the plight undocumented immigrants experience. No one chooses to be undocumented. If it were easier for folks to migrate the right way, especially when they’re running away from something like poverty or state violence, they would. More often than not they do it out of survival or necessity, as Chloe’s parents did in the book.
My father is a Gen 1.5 immigrant with parents from two different cultures (tricultural upbringing) and I’m an immigrant myself, so a lot of Chloe’s story resonated with me even if I couldn’t relate to all of it. What was the detail that you felt had to be in the book to sell Chloe’s personal experience?
Leslie: A lot of Chloe’s experiences are inspired by the members of my community, so her story came pretty naturally to me.
I’m a sucker for magic gemstones. Tell me more about the opals and how they work in the magic system.
Leslie: Each opal gem grants a different ability to whomever claims it. I can’t go into too much detail since we’ll dive into this more deeply in book 2, but these opal gems are going to play a big role throughout the series!
How many books can we expect in this series?
Leslie: Right now there’s two books in my contract, but there’s definitely room for more! Like for example, México doesn’t make a huge appearance in both books despite being referenced on multiple occasions, but this is because I have huge plans for them. If readers would like to find out more about their lore, please support both of these books so I can do them justice!
I loved how a magic school for all of the Americas utilized Spanish in its terminology because a majority of nations in the Americas do use Spanish as a first language. But this is also wrapped up in difficult conversations around colonization. Do you plan on exploring that in future books in this series, such as utilizing Nahuatl?
Leslie: Oooo great question! And it kind of goes back to my previous answer. Colonization and its effect on the magical world Chloe is living in is definitely a theme I plan on introducing in future books, but I need more than two books to be able to do it properly. I won’t reveal much to avoid giving spoilers, but I’ll leave readers with this: me referring to the magical community in CHLOE VEGA as Xolijinípsios was an intentional choice and there’s a lore reason for it.
AC: Words cannot describe how excited I am for that.
It has been quite heartening to see MG embrace the idea of OwnVoices and let authors from a variety of backgrounds get to be the ones to introduce young readers to all kinds of topics and traditional stories. Besides what’s in Chloe Vega, what is an idea or story that you want to introduce to young readers with your own spin on it?
Leslie: I don’t have any ideas at the moment for MG, but I am currently working on a YA heist book that takes place in México’s Land of the Dead. I feel like we haven’t gotten to explore that much outside of Disney’s COCO and THE BOOK OF LIFE, so it’s been fun.
Since the book opened with Chloe cooking, and burning, frijoles, what is your favorite food of all time to eat and what is your favorite to cook?
Leslie: This reminds me of a reader who told me that Chloe would not have gone through everything she went through in this book if she hadn’t burned the frijoles, and it gave me a good laugh. But to answer your question, I love pozole. It reminds me of home and the holidays! I hardly have time to cook these days, but once I nail down my mom’s recipe it’s game over for everyone.
Who was your favorite character to write and who made you want to scream in frustration?
Leslie: Jason is such a little jerk but he was so fun to write, and it was especially fun when I had other characters humble him when he deserved it. Danielle was tough because I didn’t want her to fully fall into the bully trope. She’s a three-dimensional character and there’s a reason she acts the way she does, but it was hard to make that fully clear with limited on-page time. I’m glad people will get to know her a bit more in book 2. You will meet her stepmom for the first time and learn more about her biological mom, which I feel will give her more dimension.
I’m writing MG, so I have to ask: it is very hard to find books with leads who are fourteen and fifteen-years-old. Are you hoping that’s going to change as the industry recalibrates post-COVID or do you think there’s a good reason why this is?
Leslie: It’s definitely not impossible, but it is rare. I’m hoping this either changes or that YA becomes more open to lower YA to not alienate those 14 and 15 year old readers. But this industry is always changing and you never know what could happen.
Chloe forms a lot of bonds throughout the story. Which one was your favorite to write?
Leslie: Chloe and Tiny! Their friendship is loyal and fruitful, and I adore them both so much.
What is a piece of worldbuilding you’re hoping to dig into in the next book?
Leslie: You’re definitely going to learn more about Ora and Osthall in the next book, as well as how both the Agents of Magic and the Osthonians got started, so I’m excited for readers to dive into that.
Middle Grade is often cited as one of the most difficult age categories to get right and
I think a lot of this is because, as adults, we are so far removed from remembering not only what kids that age think, but the why and how of it all (plus how much you really, really just want people to not look at you) while, as adults, we know what we want kids to learn and understand and we get frustrated when they aren’t interested in those topics even though it’s our fault that we don’t always present them in interesting or relatable ways. How did you balance all of that while writing Chloe Vega?
Leslie: I think it helped that I started brainstorming this book when I was five. A lot of the internal struggles the kids experience were things I was going through at their age. But I also like to think a lot of the lessons we teach in middle grade aren’t only for middle grade readers, but adults as well.
There’s all kinds of advice out there in regards to the writing process, but I’ve found that the best thing to do is to experiment with a lot of authors’ processes until you find a combination that works for you. What’s your process like?
Leslie: For me it depends on the book I’m writing, but for this one I started with dumping all the ideas I had and scenes I wanted to write on a piece of paper. Once I did that, I created an outline following the Save the Cat! structure to make sure I was hitting all my beats. The planning is the longest part of my process to lessen the time it takes for me to draft. Some authors do more in-depth outlines but I have found that this doesn’t work for me as some of my best ideas come to me while I’m writing, so I would call myself a plantser.
We talk a lot in writers’ spaces about how we have to read modern authors to be part of the conversation going on in our genres. What books is your book in conversation with?
Leslie: WITCHLINGS, AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS, and THE MARVELLERS!
Author as Brand feels like a big part of being a writer these days. What do you want your Brand to be?
Leslie: I firmly believe you should never change yourself to fit into a “brand”, but mine is to always be authentic and tell stories that are not often told.
Some authors focus on food, others on clothes. What’s your favorite way to show time and place/worldbuild?
Leslie: CHLOE VEGA takes place in the present, so for me it’s probably pop culture references and the lingo the kids use when they address each other.
What’s next on the horizon for you?
Leslie: CHLOE VEGA Book 2 comes out Fall 2026! I saw the cover sketch a little over a week ago and y’all are not ready. The cover artist, Francisco J. Santoyo, is knocking it out of the park and they haven’t even added color yet.
Are there any writers you want to give a shoutout to?
Leslie: Claribel A. Ortega! It’s so inspiring seeing a Latina kicking butt in the middle grade genre and Claribel is definitely doing it. I wish her nothing but the utmost success and hope you all buy her books because they are so good.
Thank you so much, Leslie!
Where to buy