Mayumi Cruz is a multi-genre Filipino author whose body of works includes fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and translation.
She writes diverse, cross-genre fiction with emotionally-charged and thought-provoking plots. Her books, Chroma Hearts: A Psychological Thriller, and The Black Widow, have received awards and recognition. Some of Mayumi’s writings have also appeared in Philippines Graphic and other online publications. To date, Mayumi has more than twenty (20) published books, available online and in print.
Beyond writing, Mayumi is also an artist, a website designer, a screenwriter, and a freelance editor. With a degree in Economics and a master’s degree in Educational Management, she is also the founder of Pinoy Indie Authors, a volunteer-run community of independently-published, cross genre Filipino writers.
| Website: www.mayumi-cruz.com
| Facebook: MayumiCruzAuthorPage
You have built much of your career as a popular independent author. How has the freedom of indie publishing influenced the kinds of stories you feel compelled to tell, including myth-inflected pieces like “A Lament With No End”?
Indie publishing gives me the freedom to write stories that I want to write, not necessarily what the popular trend dictates, or what most readers want. It lets me experiment on genres, voices, or styles of writing that are considered unusual or unorthodox by others. I’m not boxed in by a single genre or style. It also changed my perspective on reaching readers. I now accept that my stories are not for everyone. I’m writing for readers who truly “get” or understand my stories, or connect with the tales I tell which are most often emotional, ambiguous and crossing multiple genres.
“A Lament With No End” blends folklore and genre elements in ways that speak to readers both inside and outside literary communities. How do you see your work contributing to the diversity of voices and ideas in contemporary Philippine writing, especially in a field that has traditionally sidelined genre fiction?”
In blending folklore and genre elements, readers will realize that there is a rich treasure trove of human conditions that can be explored and can be relatable to contemporary situations. Instead of just telling a legend verbatim, we can spin a story using the psychology of characters that would resonate with people, thus elevating genre fiction to new heights.
In “A Lament With No End,” you weave together motifs from Ilokano and Bikolano folklore. When approaching mythic traditions—especially those that may not fully belong to one’s own cultural lineage—what ethical questions shape the way you adapt, reinterpret, or combine them in fiction?
I do a lot of research before I write down a story especially when combining folklore. And while we can write whatever we imagine in fiction, I am careful not to antagonize or offend anyone’s beliefs. I avoid careless mixing of content, and I try to approach the topic with respect, treating it not merely as an aesthetic, but a very significant element in my story.
In the essay, “We Are the Mountain,” Vida Cruz-Borja reflects on the idea of “passive characters”—figures who mainly witness events unfold. In “A Lament With No End,” the Sea functions in a similar way, observing the tragedy and offering a final reckoning of the characters’ choices.
How did you conceive of the Sea as a witnessing presence, and what might its perspective reveal about the patterns of love, regret, and consequence that readers themselves recognize outside the story?
I conceived the Sea here as a helpless, tragic witness to the endless cycle of wrong decisions, bad choices, and injustice that can result from, not just love triangles, but in all aspects of life. The Sea can also represent a person or a group of persons who do not have any control on matters that surround and affect them. Conversely, the three protagonists in this story can also reflect the situations and/or the people that made those bad choices, wrong decisions, and injustice that affect not only them but also those around them.
What’s the one thing not mentioned in your profile that you would like people to know about you?
I am first and foremost a full-time housewife and mother, and writing is what I just do on the side.