Architect of Worlds
J.L. Mora didn't set out to write fantasy — she set out to write the kinds of stories she couldn't find anywhere else. Born and raised in South Florida, she is a Hispanic-American author whose love of storytelling took root long before she put it on the page.
She holds a Bachelor's in Journalism and a Master's in Library Science and Storytelling. As a librarian, she shared her love of story through weekly preschool storytimes, and curated seminars and writing events for young adult patrons. She knows firsthand what it means to put the right story in someone's hands at the right moment.
She is an active member of online writing communities including Pitch to Published and The Writer's Room, has participated in the Futurescapes Writers' Workshop, and has worked with editor Patrick Price.
When she isn't building worlds, she's reading in them — and finding that the best writing advice still arrives uninvited, usually in the shower.
She is currently working on her debut novel.
"Between the stars and the secrets, between the magic and the mundane, that's where my stories live. In the space where who we are meets who we dare to become."
The Architecture of Identity
Who we are is never one thing. J.L. Mora builds characters who are mid-becoming, people caught between who they've been and who they're trying to be. The tension in that space, the push and pull of self-discovery, is where her stories find their heartbeat.
The Language of Love
Not romance alone, but love in all its complicated forms — the kind that costs something, that asks you to stay when leaving would be easier. In J.L. Mora's worlds, love isn't a subplot. It's the reason the story exists at all.
Found Family
Blood doesn't make a family. Choice does. Shared history does. Showing up when it matters does. This is the thread that runs through everything J.L. Mora writes. It's the quiet, radical idea that belonging is something you build, not something you're simply born into.