Contributor Interview: Ella Torres

"Flu Season" by Ella Torres appears in the Spring 2026 issue of Broad Ripple Review.

What’s your favorite punctuation and a literary hot take you have?

As a huge fan of Emily Dickinson (and a poet), I love using em dashes! I feel like, when they’re properly used, they can really help emphasize sentences. My hot take is that "good writing" doesn't require inaccessibility. Too often, literary prestige gets confused with difficulty, but I think the true mission of writing is to bring more people to the page, not fewer. Some of my favorite authors, such as Taylor Jenkins Reid, Layne Fargo, and Rebecca Serle, write stories that teach readers about life, stay with them long after the last page, and never overcomplicate the reading experience.

What inspired you to write “Flu Season?"

The inspiration for "Flu Season" hit me in a Pilates class in late November. The person to my right had a tissue she kept reaching for, and I had just gotten over Covid. As a semi-germophobe, I'll admit I was a little worried about getting sick again—but instead of dwelling on it, I started imagining a character whose germophobia was an impediment to her day-to-day life, someone whose anxiety had a whole history of grief and loss behind it. By the time class ended, I was so compelled by her that I went home and wrote "Flu Season" in one sitting.

What writing/publishing trends are you hopping on for 2026? 

For 2026, I'm hoping to see more women's fiction centered on female friendship rather than romance—stories where the central relationship is between women, and where those bonds carry the same emotional weight and complexity we usually reserve for love stories. It's a trend I'm deeply invested in as a writer: my debut novel, The Midnight Saints, is built around exactly that kind of friendship and the ways women shape and save each other.

I noticed that you’re working on your debut novel! Do you prefer long-form fiction over short form? If so, why?

This is such a tricky question because my creativity genuinely depends on both forms. With long-form fiction, I get to become deeply acquainted with a world and its characters over time—there's something almost magical about living a double life while writing a novel, escaping daily into a place you love and people you can't wait to return to. But short form satisfies something different in me. It lets me dip into entirely new worlds, meet compelling characters briefly, and follow an idea wherever it leads. There's a particular euphoria in writing a first draft in one sitting—the way "Flu Season" came together, for instance, a character arriving so fully formed that I just had to get her down before she disappeared. Both forms feed me in ways the other can't.

What unique experiences/obstacles have you faced as a Brazilian writer who moved to America? Do these experiences influence what you write about?  Was there a huge culture shock when you first entered the American literary scene? 

Growing up in Rio, I attended a British international school where I was immersed in American and British literature from a very young age—alongside Brazilian literature, of course. So in many ways, I arrived in the American literary scene already fluent in its traditions. What surprised me, however, was looking around and not seeing myself reflected in it. While there has been a beautiful rise in Latinx voices in fiction, Brazilian characters and Brazilian writers remain largely absent from the conversation—and that absence is something I feel personally. Both of my novels are my attempt to change that. My debut centers on a second-generation Brazilian protagonist, and my current work in progress follows a Brazilian fashion student. 

Now that “Flu Season” has wrapped up, what’s next on the writing docket?

I'm currently querying my debut novel, The Midnight Saints, a backstage drama set in 1970s Los Angeles following a Brazilian makeup artist who joins the tour of the most famous rock band in America, where a transformative female friendship forces her to confront everything she's been running from—until a secret affair with the guitarist threatens to destroy it. It's the book of my heart, and I can't wait for it to find its home. In the meantime, I'm working on my next novel, set in New York City's 1980s fashion scene, following the ten-year friendship and eventual lavender marriage between a charmingly reckless, closeted Brazilian heir and a relentlessly ambitious small-town American girl. That said, I'm always open to wherever inspiration leads; if a short story idea arrives as insistently as this one did, I'll follow it.

Do you have any advice for upcoming writers looking to get their work published?

As someone who is both querying a novel and regularly submitting short fiction to literary magazines, the most honest advice I can give is: get comfortable with rejection. Not in a motivational poster way—just practically. Rejection is the rhythm of this industry, and the writers who keep going are simply the ones who don't let it interrupt their momentum. Every no is just part of the process. Keep submitting.

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About the Author

Ella Torres is a Brazilian writer and translator and a graduate of Barnard College, where she earned a degree in English and Creative Writing. She is currently pursuing an MFA in fiction at The New School. Her work has appeared in Litbop, Literally Stories, and other publications. She is currently querying her debut novel The Midnight Saints, about female friendship, ambition, betrayal, and the women history forgot to name—set in the 1970s music world.

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About the Interviewer

Ollie Sikes (they/them) is an evolving queer writer, editor, and creator based in Dallas, TX. They completed a double BA in Creative Writing and Theatre at Butler University. Besides volunteering with Broad Ripple Review, they also serve as Content Creator for the little things literary magazine. Their poetry has been published with Synchronized Chaos. You can follow them on Instagram @ollie.sikes.