An Interview with Mina Elwell

Mina Soriano-Elwell (Undercover Monster, Hellicious, InferNoct) writes about ghouls, ghosts, and goblins for kids and adults. She lives in a small town on the Hudson River with her spouse Angie, a quiet, beautiful dog, and a heavy metal music-loving baby. Most of her writing gets done while drinking a delicious ube latte at her spouse’s coffee shop.

Mina’s latest book is a middle grade graphic novel called Undercover Monster. It is a fast-moving mystery with a monster twist that taps into the tension of not fitting in, the paranoia of hidden identities, and the chaos of school life, where the biggest threat might not be who you expect. You can preorder it now through the publisher, Papercutz, and it will be available in paperback and hardcover wherever books are sold on August 11, 2026: https://papercutz.com/series/undercover-monster

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What inspired you to start writing this book?

The art! My favorite thing about working in comics and graphic novels is that they’re so collaborative. This idea really started with the artist, Kit Wallis, and some incredible character designs that he had done for the main character, Mia. What really unlocked this story for me, though, was realizing that it’s a mystery. I’ve always loved mysteries, but what frustrated me as a kid was that so many of the middle grade ones that I tried to read weren’t actually solvable by the reader. No matter how smart you are, you can’t solve a mystery when you aren’t allowed to see all the clues until the big reveal at the end! As soon as I realized that structurally, Undercover Monster was a puzzle to unravel, the entire thing fell into place.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Undercover Monster wasn’t the original title for this one, but it’s the one that my co-creators A.C. Medina and Kit Wallis and I eventually settled on with Papercutz. We bounced around a few possible titles, but my father actually pitched us Undercover Monster off the cuff and we fell in love with it.

Describe your dream book cover.

My dream cover is something literal. If I see something exciting on the book cover, I’d like it to be in the book, too. (I’m still haunted by a book I read as a child that had a unicorn on the cover and no unicorns in the book.) I also like when the text looks like an intentional part of the piece and works with the art rather than against it.

I’m obsessed with book covers in general. My father, Tristan Elwell, is an illustrator, so I grew up around amazing art, often amazing fantasy art. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some incredible artists and have some absolutely gorgeous covers on stories I’ve worked on, but I think my favorite is the cover for the first issue of my adult horror series Abattoir 6. My dad did an illustration of the most disturbing vampire/monster/creature, up close and personal, with its tongue hanging out, on a pleasant pink background. Rest assured, that monster is also in the book.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Some IDLES for Mia Avery’s punk attitude and soft interior, The Third Man theme with its goofy zither to make you feel like you’re in a noir, and some Voltaire for the most silly and fun gothic vibes you could dream of.

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

The writing for Undercover Monster is all done, but while I was working on it, I was looking back on some favorite mysteries for tips and tricks, like Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. I also listened to a lot of Dimension 20’s Fantasy High, which gets that unlikely school friends bonded by adventure thing just right.

Currently, I am working on a few adult horror graphic novels and series for Iron Age Comics. My spouse and I are writing a graphic novel called Mangle together, which is inspired by Filipino folklore. For that one I’ve been doing some intense reading, from some harrowing autobiographies to collections of old legends. Keep an eye out for that one toward the end of the year. For Abattoir 6 (individual issues already in stores, first volume coming to Kickstarter very soon!) I read Octavia Butler’s Fledgling. A6’s vampires are far more physically monstrous and the stories are about as different as two vampire stories can be, but Butler’s depiction of vampires as sort of human shepherds was a key inspiration. I’m also working on a new volume of a graphic novel that I wrote almost a decade ago called InferNoct, which is Kickstarting very soon and going to stores later this year. For that one, I’ve been revisiting Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Nobody did a haunted house or an unreliable narrator better.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I used to work in TV! I was actually Amy Sedaris’s assistant/bunnysitter for a minute. She’s the best boss you could ever hope for. Lately, when I’m not writing, I’m helping out at my spouse Angie’s cafe making lattes and starting weird conversations with customers. My latte art is getting better.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I think my both of my parents reading to me all the time as a kid probably made me a writer. I remember listening to them read me The Wind in the Willows, The Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings, A Wrinkle in Time, The Phantom Tollbooth …

In terms of other art forms, I’m obsessed with the artist Patricia Piccinini. Her sculptures are extremely lifelike and often depict both humans and distorted, futuristic humanoids, and the relationships between them. I was lucky enough to see a few pieces of hers at a pretty young age and I was struck by how unsettling her visions of the future are, while also being so emotionally evocative, sometimes even sweet. That idea that something can both be adorable and repulsive, loving and terrifying, a terrible omen for the fate of humanity and pretty darn wholesome sticks with me.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Truly, I can write anywhere, but I have a really pretty old Victorian gothic revival desk at home that is my ideal place. I also spend a lot of time at my spouse Angie’s cafe, drinking more coffee than is strictly healthy and typing in a corner. Lately, I’ve also had a few late-night writing sessions in the bath. Sometimes the mood strikes at unexpected times!

What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?

Don’t skip the feelings! When I look at a lot of my earlier writing, I notice that I was “cutting away” from big, emotional moments or leaving big feelings unspoken. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but by doing it all the time, I was putting up a wall between the characters and the reader. Now I let the characters get messy on the page so that people can actually get to know them.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

I hope readers, especially those in the middle grade demographic who feel like they have to hide a part of who they really are, see themselves in Undercover Monster. Some of us have forked tongues or can shapeshift and some of us speak different languages or use different pronouns than most of our classmates, but we all need spaces where we can truly be ourselves and friends who love and respect us for who we really are.

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