Katja Millay

Happy official “print book” release day for Katja Millay!! One of my favorite books of all time, The Sea of Tranquility, has just been released in paperback today, and Katja is here with us today to give us a “Behind the Book” look.

Check out my review and see how deeply it impacted me (and SOOOOO many readers) and you’ll know. If you haven’t read this one yet, it’s a MUST-READ, forever 5-star favorite!

Then… come back and read this interview and excerpt from the book (below). It’s one of my favorite scenes. AND!! Comment below to enter for your chance to win a signed copy (with a quote from my favorite scene, handwritten in the book by Katja, herself)!

Hi Katja!!! Congratulations on your big release day (and welcome to my humble abode). 😉

Maryse: I LOVED The Sea of Tranquility. This is one of the most eloquent, beautifully detailed, fulfilling stories that I have ever read. It took me everywhere. From moments of harrowing darkness to basking in it’s warm comforting glow (and sometimes… back again). Yet, it left me beaming. Elated. And What. An. Ending! I was smiling through tears, clutching my iPad to my chest.

Katja: Thank you!  I think one of the greatest things a writer can hear is that their work was truly felt by someone – whatever that feeling was – anger, fear, joy, despair.   It’s always gratifying to me to hear that the book evoked an emotional response from a reader.

Maryse: Is this really your first book? The quality of your writing, and your storytelling… to me… is second to none. Tell me about your creative past. Did you always know you wanted to write? Had you written anything before TSoT?

Katja: I went to film school at NYU with the intention of writing for film & television.  Screenplays and novels are very different animals, but the understanding of story elements, character development, structure, etc. cross over format divisions and are lessons that I’ve carried with me.  I can say with certainty that I always knew I wanted to write, I just never really pursued it.  I’ve always been fairly antisocial and prefer to spend too much time inside my own head; so I end up making up a lot of stories.  I just never actually wrote any of them down before.   Not counting the screenplays I wrote in college, the only things I had put on paper before TSoT were a few random scenes from a few random stories that I never followed through on.

Maryse: Oh… maybe you need to revisit those! 😉 How long had this amazing story been brewing in your head before you decided to tell it.

Katja: That’s hard to say.  I had been daydreaming about Nastya for a little while.  I was fascinated by this very childlike girl who became this very angry girl and finding out why she was angry and how she became that way.  Little by little her backstory developed and she started taking shape in my head.  Then Josh gradually came into the picture and he was this lonely, stoic kid and again I wanted to figure out why and what was underneath the image that everyone else saw. That’s the point when I started to write things down – one scene here and another scene there until I had all of these pieces of a story.  

I didn’t realize in the beginning that I was writing a book.  I just wanted to know where the story was going for these two people and I got to the point where I was so invested that I needed to see how it would end.  

Maryse: Stoic. YES!! THAT is the perfect description of Josh. I love that it seems as if you were writing this just for yourself. Maybe that’s why it came out so perfectly. You lived it with them just to find out more.

This book took so many of us by storm. Fast and furious, it was all anyone could talk about, and the 5-star reviews just kept coming. Tell me about your decision and your experience “self-publishing” it. Were you surprised at the enthusiastic reader response?

Katja: I was floored at how quickly everything happened.  Obviously when you create something and you send it out into the world, you do that because you believe in it.  You hope that others will see what you do, but you can never truly predict how it will be received.  I wrote a book that I wanted to read.  I don’t think I was at all prepared for how affected readers would be by the story.  All of sudden I started hearing from people and the messages were amazing.  There was an overwhelming personal reaction that was so humbling for me as a writer.  To know that the words resonated with people like they have has been immensely rewarding.

As far as the publishing went, it wasn’t something I planned to do at the beginning.  I made that decision when I was further along and I had invested so much of myself in it that I figured I would take the chance and put it out there and maybe a few people would read it.  So when I started revising and editing, I also started researching how to self-publish.  I was utterly lost.  I didn’t do any real marketing for it.  I sent out a total of maybe four or five review requests and never considered setting up a blog tour because I wouldn’t have even known where to begin.  I didn’t even have a Twitter account or a Facebook page until about a month before I released the book when I realized I should probably have them.  In retrospect, as far as marketing and promotion are concerned, I probably did everything wrong.  I was very naive.  And yet somehow the planets aligned.

I have to credit the readers for that.  I think that TSoT is a testament to the power of word of mouth in its purest form.  The book ended up in the hands of a few people who told their friends who told their friends who told their friends.  It was surreal.  I owe the readers and reviewers so much because the attention this book has received is a direct result of their belief in it.  I’ve been incredibly blessed in this whole experience and it has been an education to say the least. 

Maryse: I’d like to think the planets aligned because the universe knew just how amazing a story it was. 😉 I hear that you do not use a computer to write. That you actually write by hand on paper. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it, but I love it!! So organic and personal. But WHY? 😉

Katja: I think the reason I write that way is directly related to the fact that it is more personal.  I found early on that what came out when I was writing by hand was more natural.  The emotions were raw and more unfiltered – like writing a diary.  When I sat at the computer, what came out felt like writing, not feeling.  It was easier to put myself in the characters’ headspace with a notebook and a pen in my hand, as opposed to sitting in front of a screen.  I’m trying to practice and train myself to write more on the computer now, and I’m getting better about it but I inevitably revert back to the pen.  I’d have no issue with doing it that way if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s so incredibly time consuming.  It takes longer to write and then I have to go through the process of putting all of the pieces in order and transferring them into the computer and then making sure that the story thread and continuity are seamless.

This is some of the paper.  The rest is packed in another box and to this day I still find scraps of paper with scenes or pieces of dialogue shoved here and there around my house.  The three-ring binders on the bottom are the drafts after it was put in the computer.  Every time I had a new draft, I’d print it so I could revise by hand.  There are notes scribbled all over them.   

Maryse: I LOVE THIS!! What a great “Behind The Books” look. Thank you for sharing that, Katja.

Because of the serious subject matter, deep introspection and growth of the characters, this YA story has a very mature feel. Both characters are experiencing a different kind of pain from the other, but both are living similar results. Isolation.

“It’s like there’s an invisible force field surrounding this space and he’s the only one inside it.”

I LOVED that, and that she wanted to know how to have that same force field.

Tell me about your personal writing experience and your own emotions, as you explored the deeper, darker aspects of their personalities.

Katja: That sense of isolation was definitely a feeling I wanted permeating the book.  It was such a large part of who the characters were.   I’ve always isolated myself to a degree, though obviously not to the extent that Josh and Nastya have, but I was able to draw on that to help put myself in their respective mindsets and truly allow myself to feel what they were feeling so I could convey those emotions.  In all honesty, I never thought I was writing an overly dark story.  I felt it was real.  Matter of fact.  Some people don’t get perfect lives or even normal lives.  This was life for these two kids and for them high school wasn’t about football games and going to the prom; it was about surviving and they each accepted that and developed their own very different survival and defense mechanisms.   

I will admit that there were definitely moments, one or two in particular, which were visceral for me.  As a writer, I hope the fact that certain things sickened or upset me translates into readers being affected the same way.

Maryse: Oh it certainly affected me. I had the full-body tremors at times while I was reading it, which gave that ending that much more impact.

The tentative friendship, slowly building trust and that extra special bond must have brought you moments of relief as it did to your readers. Many wondrous moments from start to finish. Brilliant scenes and revelations that lifted my heart and carried me through the darker feelings. Any personal writing memories, or anything that stands out in your mind, as you explored their special bond?

Katja: I loved anytime Josh and Nastya were on the page together.  It’s hard to pinpoint specific moments because their relationship was solidified so gradually and so quietly that it was firmly in place before they even realized it was happening.  It wasn’t a huge event that threw them together but rather a series of smaller encounters – a ride home, watching television, picking up a car battery, talking about tools, washing dishes, etc.  I wasn’t able to rush anything with those two.  It never would have worked.  Everything between them needed to be as tentative as they were and interactions that appeared small were actually momentous because even when we were just eavesdropping on mundane, everyday life, there was something much deeper at work.

Maryse: YES!! All of the little moments were so monumental to building… “them”. Let’s talk about Drew. We loved him!! He was the “typical guy”. The one we envision when we think of the average teenage experience. He brought us (and your characters) moments of “normal”. He was the comic relief, but also, surprisingly… the logical head. The “other” perspective, when they got lost in their own memories and fears.

Tell me about him. How someone seemingly so “typical teen” could connect to, and be best friends with, these two very troubled (but beautiful) souls.

Katja: Thank you!  I’m so glad you connected with him.  Drew is such a mixture of immaturity and arrogance and loyalty and love.  He possesses a self-knowledge and acceptance of what he is, coupled with an almost childlike desire to be something better.  I think the success of his relationships with both Josh and Nastya can be credited to the fact that he is so unlike the two of them.  Drew has had a very sheltered, pampered upbringing.   Life has been easy for him and he’s never had to experience the uglier aspects of the world that Nastya has experienced and he doesn’t shoulder the responsibilities that Josh does.  Drew gets to live for Drew.  He’s very much the teenager he should be but there’s a depth to him as well.  For all his debauchery and irreverence, there’s an innocence and naïveté to Drew that counterbalances the jaded, world-weariness of Josh & Nastya.   His character, like those of Josh and Nastya, is dichotomous – there’s the persona that people see and accept at face value and there’s a kid underneath struggling with whether or not to fight the image he himself has painstakingly constructed.  I really enjoyed getting to see that part of him emerge over the course of the book. 

Maryse: One of my favorite scenes was the chair scene. So symbolic. Watching Josh build something that was slowly taking shape. A chair. But so much more, with all that meaning behind it. *sigh* 

Another one of my favorite parts of course, was a certain “reveal” that made me gasp in realization. Perfectly weaved in… just so. Fantastic, Katja!! Any favorite scenes that you’d like to share? Anything that moved you, or that had you struggling but that holds a special place in your heart?

Katja: My favorite is the scene where he tells her to sit with him on the bench in the courtyard.  It’s very short and simple but it’s so symbolic for the characters.  That gesture – him offering her that sanctuary and her accepting it publicly  – was a statement that was more powerful for me than any words could have been in that situation.  

Maryse: Agreed. Another unforgettable moment that meant so much.

Dream cast of characters? If you could cast anyone to play Josh, Nastya and Drew, who would they be?

Katja: I can never answer this one!  I have no clue.  I have yet to find anyone who truly embodies Josh, Nastya or Drew.  I lived with the three of them in my head for so many months that they live and breathe so vividly in my imagination.    Plus, I think even if I found someone who was absolutely perfect I’d be reluctant to share it because I wouldn’t want to step on the images readers have formed in their own minds.  I’m afraid that my saying “Look here!  This is Josh!” would take away some of the joy of getting to create the picture for themselves.

Maryse: Do we have more to look forward to from you?

Katja: Hopefully sometime in the near future.  I’ve been working on something for the past few months.  I had started another story and needed to put it on hold for a while to get some perspective.   So now I’m definitely writing and well into the book but that’s about all I can say.  I haven’t gotten to the point where I feel comfortable talking publicly about what I’m writing while I’m in the process of writing it.    

Well I can’t wait to see what’s next!! Thank you so much for coming, Katja.

And guess what, guys? Katja has an excerpt from The Sea of Tranquility: A Novel: