How a Fantasy World Can Teach You About Self-Worth and the Weight of Your Choices with Katherine Briggs

Episode Transcript:

Introduction

CJ Milacci:

Welcome, my friend. You are listening to Read Clean YA with CJ, the podcast for teens and young adults who want to explore exciting worlds, deep themes, and epic stories — without the objectionable content. I’m your host, award-winning young adult author CJ Milacci, and in this episode, we are going to dive into an author interview with my good friend and fellow young adult author, Katherine Briggs.

Award-winning author Katherine Briggs crafted her first monster at age 3. Since graduating from crayons to laptop, she continues to devour and weave fantasy tales while enjoying oolong or chai tea. She, her co-adventurer husband and rescue dog, reside outside Houston where she classically educates amazing students and studies her second language. Katie or Katherine, welcome to the show!

Katherine Briggs:

Thank you so much, CJ. I’m so excited to be here.

CJ Milacci:

I am so excited to have you and I am going to jump back and forth between calling you Katherine and Katie because we are friends. So I know her as Katie, but her author name is Katherine. So I hope that’s not confusing to listeners, but I’ll give you that little caveat at the beginning here. And today we are going to be talking about Katie’s debut novel, The Eternity Gate. which is so incredible. I loved this story. It’s an amazing, exciting adventure. I can’t wait to talk about it. And before I go on and on, Katie, can you tell us what the story is about?

Diving Deeper into the Fantasy YA Novel: The Eternity Gate

Katherine Briggs:

Absolutely, and I’m so honored that you enjoyed the Eternity Gate, by the way, because I have so enjoyed Recruit of Talionis and Fugitive of Talionis, so I’m just beyond honored. The Eternity Gate is a story where kings and monsters battle over ancient treasure locked behind a very, very old doorway, and Seyo, handmaiden to the princess, possesses the gate’s stolen key.

CJ Milacci:

I love it. It is so much fun. So this book is a rich world and the characters feel like they become your friends because your characters are so beautifully created and it’s an adventure like from page one you kind of just get thrust into this new world that feels like one you can just never leave because it’s so exciting and so well crafted and then you just get pulled along and one thing after another happens.

It’s fantastic.

It’s such a great story. And I really encourage listeners to check it out. We’re gonna talk more about it, but I do have to give the shout out that this book just released yesterday. So it is fresh on the shelves, ready for you to read. It is so good. So can you please tell us a little bit about how the idea for this story came about?

Katherine Briggs:

Absolutely. I… it’s very glamorous.

I had an idea about a princess and a monster about seven years ago and that story just morphed. I mean writers, we know how this goes. It starts off as one thing and then it morphs into a different story and a different story and a different story and I remember when the protagonist Seyo first popped into my mind. I had this specific image of her serving the princess and I thought this is so interesting. I can see her so clearly. How does she fit into the story?

She absolutely took over the story and it became what it is today.

CJ Milacci:

Wow, that’s so neat. I had no idea that Seyo wasn’t originally the protagonist of the story because she is the heart behind the whole thing. It’s amazing.

Great, so what books are similar to yours? Just so that readers can kind of get an idea of if they enjoyed this story, they might enjoy your story.

Katherine Briggs:

Oh my goodness, that’s such a good question. I personally, it’s a world that I created, I say on my own. Obviously, I think our world, Earth, inspires us so much. It’s so beautiful, it’s so rich, and I would feel rather prideful if I said, I created this world on my own. How about I say, I put this world together on my own.

CJ Milacci:

I love it.

Katherine Briggs:

Other worlds that are also somewhat created from scratch I think people would relate to, I’m thinking of books like Gillian Bronte Adams’ book, Of Fire and Ash is set in its own world. I have had readers tell me that it reminds them of Dune, which I was extremely honored by that. I recently had a reviewer tell me it reminded her of Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings. So I think if you enjoy large stakes and large worlds, you might enjoy this book.

CJ Milacci:

Definitely, you will definitely enjoy this book. It’s so much fun. Speaking of worlds, then we go even deeper into the characters. So I think one of the things you did so well in this story is breathe life into the characters. There’s monsters, there’s these things called shadows that are creepy. There’s all these different elements throughout the story, which speaks to you creating your own world. And… All of these different characters can kind of do different things. So can you tell us a little bit about that?

Katherine Briggs:

Absolutely. And I love that you described the shadows as creepy.

I’m pretty tame in what I watch. I don’t watch a lot of horror or anything like that. In fact, zero. So I’m amazed that the shadows came out as creepy as they did. And they were so interesting for me working on them. They were hard. Creating monsters is so much fun.

CJ Milacci:

Can you tell us a little bit about the different characters in your world — so you have the shadows or who are these creepy beings and then you have these different people groups that kind of have different powers, I guess. So can you tell us like a little bit about that too?

Katherine Briggs:

The quote magic system of the book is based around being able to wield different elements. So the main character, Seyo, is from a country where you’re supposed to be able to hold light in your hands, but instead she’s inherited a different gifting due to her mixed heritage. She has inherited an ability to wield fire and not even in a way that’s common or normal. So to her, that’s like being cursed. This is something that she’s trying very desperately to hide and trying to cover up by being perfect.

All the characters in some way or another are gifted in that sort of elemental magic system. Or I don’t really call it a magic system. I call it a gifting system.

And then, oh goodness, there are about five different nations and then there are the shadow monsters. Which are… creatures, or really they’re humans kind of if you think Gollum how his mistakes reshaped him into something else and something dark and honestly really sad the shadows are similar they’ve traded a piece of themselves or they’ve been forced to trade a piece of themselves for this new form that’s very powerful and there’s a great cost to that as well.

CJ Milacci:

Wow, I love that description and it as I’m listening to you talk about it I’m seeing the story in my mind’s eye and realizing like oh wow, that’s exactly true. That’s such a succinct way to put it and they are very Gollum-esk in my mind too, in what they look like in some ways. Their faces at least. I’m not sure if they should look like Gollum, but in my mind they look like Gollum.

Katherine Briggs:

I refuse to ever, I do have a sketch, but I’m never going to show anybody what they look like because people, readers have already come up to me and said, Oh, it looks like this. It looks like this. And I don’t want to ruin that. I want people to be able to form that image in their own mind. And someone on my marketing team forbid me from ever commissioning any character art for these monsters because they’re just scary. We wouldn’t maybe want to actually see it.

CJ Milacci:

Right, right, oh yes, so good. So moving on from the creepy shadows, because they are creepy, what, do you have like a favorite character in your story?

Katherine Briggs:

Oh my goodness, I love them all so much. I love Seyo, I love her misplaced battle to be perfect. I can relate with that as an artist. I really love her friend and love interest, the second born prince Jorai. how he’s trying so hard to find his place in the world and he’s trying really hard to break free from the judgments people have placed on him. I love the fierce Princess Kiburou that Seyo serves. And then I really love Gerrus who shows up a little bit later in the book at about the quarter mark. He has been with this story from the very beginning. He has a very interesting background that I won’t spoil here. He has overcome a lot and is overcoming a lot. And his friendship with Seyo, a very unlikely friendship, was one of the most challenging and most rewarding parts of the book to write.

CJ Milacci:

Okay. I was waiting for you to say his name because he was one of my favorite characters through the story as well. He is special. I feel like he’s a really special one and I love the friendship that gets birthed there because it is so unlikely, and I can imagine how difficult that was to write, but it’s so powerful at the same time.

Are there any fun elements of your story that some people might pick up on but others maybe would miss?

Behind the Scenes Secret Reveal!

Katherine Briggs:

There are, there’s one. Can I tell you a secret?

CJ Milacci:

Yes, tell us.

Katherine Briggs:

Okay, when I was crafting the world for this book, I was visiting South Korea at the time, and one of my best friends was born in South Korea, and we were roommates in our 20s, and she is just so proud of her beautiful country, and she should be, it’s gorgeous. And I asked her, would you help me think of some interesting little… tidbits I could put in the book. Just a little bit just because your country is so beautiful and you’re my friend and I think that would be fun. And she said yes, I never tell anybody this so now you all know but It’s been interesting.

There’s one group of readers Who have privately reached out to me over even before the book has launched early readers have reached out to say, “Is there a South Korean flavor to this book?” And there’s one thing that binds all these readers together is they watch Korean dramas or K-dramas. And I was fascinated that they were able to pick that up. I was excited.

CJ Milacci:

Yes, that is so neat. And honestly, I’m going to be real here. I did not pick this up. So I also don’t watch K dramas. But I’m curious now about what the draw is. That is so fascinating.

Diving Deeper: What can a fantasy world teach us about perfectionism, self-worth, and the weight of our choices?

On your website, you have a little note and this is actually to writers but I loved the quote. So I’m bringing it on to here for readers as well because I think it is part of why we love fantasy and science fiction.

And you say that,

“Fantasy and science fiction can mirror reality and help us see life with greater clarity. And as many have said before, we face dragons too, even if they don’t wear scales or breathe fire. And it’s fun to ask what if.”

So I love that because I agree that they can mirror reality and help us see life with greater clarity. And one of the things you’ve kind of already touched on is some of the deeper themes in your book. And I would love to just talk a little bit more about that. And what your heart is behind kind of weaving these themes into your story.

Katherine Briggs:

Yes, well as we talked about earlier, perfectionism, I think it being an artist is really common to feel like we need to make everything perfect to feel that pressure and Seyo definitely feels that pressure to be perfect to hide her flaws and to make herself perfect by her service to the princess and their mutual service to the temple. And a theme I didn’t even mean for this to show showed up on its own which was exciting, but the theme of self-worth and Seyo, especially Seyo and Gerrus, Jorai. I think exploring What is self-worth? Is it something that you? Gain or earn for yourself is it something that something or someone else bestows upon you and Who can do that?

At this point, I don’t really want to answer that question, and I didn’t in the book, but from my own limited life experiences and from watching others and from reading, I know you’re the same way with your books. It’s so fun to explore these questions that are really hard and see what the characters do, how they react in a way that is honest to these questions and how can we learn from that and are they thinking honestly as they explore these own these topics.

CJ Milacci:

Yeah. And it’s so interesting because you do explore that topic. But like in our lives, right, each person, each character explores it differently.

Each of them though, they’re very different and each of them have their own unique struggles and their own need to discover what that looks like for them. And it’s a similar path, but yet different, which I think is so true of us in our lives, right? Like we all have to explore these different things like self-worth or perfectionism or even like how our choices can twist and define us in dark ways, like with the shadows, like you mentioned earlier. And these are universal things as humans that we go through, but yet each of our journeys look a little different even when our paths cross. And our paths as they cross can help each other learn those things as we’re learning them too. So you know, I love that each of them is learning kind of the same truth, even though they’re so different, you know, because that’s how it is. No matter how different we are, we all need to learn what these things look like in our own lives.

Katherine Briggs:

Exactly, we’re all so important and we all can do, our actions really do matter. They really do affect those around us for hopefully the better.

CJ Milacci:

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And yet we can make choices that affect people negatively too. And I think that’s one of the cool things about stories is that we can see that play out before us which goes back to that quote where how science fiction and fantasy can mirror reality because we can watch that play out and then be like, oh yeah, that like that negative choice that person made is definitely having an impact or that guy’s selfishness is totally gonna. mess everything up for everyone else, you know? And we can watch it kind of from a step back a little bit and watch it play out, but then that truth settles in us because it is a truth and truth does something in our hearts and in our minds as we look at it and focus on it. And then we can realize like, oh, my choices and my actions, they are going to impact the other people around me too, just like this character’s did to this other character.

Katherine Briggs:

It’s like living vicariously, in hopefully a non-weird way, through somebody else. But I think like, like your books, your characters are so good. And I read them and I think, oh, my gosh, I’ve met this person. And I can watch other characters interact with them and think, oh, you know, what I want to do that, what I not want to do that. Or you have a character named Cade who I want to be more like that. And that’s the best. I love characters like that inspire me to love others even more greatly.

CJ Milacci:

Yeah, oh, thank you so much. I love Cade too. He’s one of my favorites, not gonna lie.

Katherine Briggs:

He can be your Geras.

CJ Milacci:

Yes, yes, exactly. When we think about these themes and stuff, I think there are things that are in our own lives that kind of are the reasons the themes come out in our stories. And you mentioned that the perfection theme with being an artist and being something you struggle with, is that a theme that you intentionally put in your story or did you kind of discover it as you were writing that Seyo had some of those things that maybe you struggled with in your past or even presently?

Katherine Briggs:

That’s a great question. For me, may be different for you, but for me, when I try to put a theme in the story, I just, it always falls a little flat. So I don’t even try to. And then I see what comes up as the characters are being, well, as I’m helping them be true to themselves. So those themes popped up on their own and are they rooted in my life? Oh, absolutely. But I also think I think that we all as humans share so much more in common than we think we do. Like, I don’t I think we’re all unique. We’re all really important. But these feelings, we share them, too. I think everybody, at least at one point in their life, struggles with self-worth, and I think a lot of people in different ways struggle with how do I, what is perfectionism? It’s being good enough, and our standards for that are different case by case, and we need to grow in that as well. So I also think of it as just a really common theme too.

Who is Katherine Briggs?

CJ Milacci:

Yeah. So good. So now we’re gonna change things up a little bit and talk a little more about you and why did you become an author? What started you on your writing journey?

Katherine Briggs:

CJ, I have no idea. My parents gave me little notebooks, well they weren’t that little, spiral notebooks, and they gave me crayons, and I sat down, and I drew little creatures in little worlds. When I was three years old, I still have them. I have no idea where that came from. I think my aunt wrote a little bit for fun, so maybe it’s in my genes, I have no idea. But then they were monsters. I really did.

My first character that I ever drew, maybe besides like a dog or some kind of tiger, was a monster. He was a blue monster and he had three eyes and he was like a little stick and he was a blue eyed monster because I’m very creative with names and titles.

CJ Milacci:

I love it. Well, three year olds, hey, that’s, that’s as creative as get. My teddy bear was named Teddy. So, you know, this is what we get when we’re that little.

Katherine Briggs:

I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I think that shows intelligence. It’s with Shakespeare. If you look at his titles, they’re very literal. And I thought, oh, so maybe we were just being very mature with Teddy and the blue-eyed monster, three-eyed blue monster.

CJ Milacci:

I love it. Oh, I love it. Wow. So you were like a baby when you started on this journey. And then I guess as you got older, did you did you just fall in love with stories and that love of writing and crafting them?

Katherine Briggs:

Oh yes, oh yes, the writing continued. I’m trying to think, I think I wrote my first novel with the One Year Adventure Novel program by Daniel Schwabauer when I was probably 15, my first completed novel. And it wasn’t, it probably would be more novella length, but that’s great. And I just couldn’t ever stop. There were times in my life when I took breaks, you know, a couple years to maybe work on short stories or something else, but I don’t know, I just…I find it, it just brings me a lot of joy. I really enjoy writing.

CJ Milacci:

I love it and you are an incredible writer so I hope you never stop. Keep up these stories.

Katherine Briggs:

I hope you never stop either. I bestow this compliment upon you as well.

CJ Milacci:

Oh thank you. See everyone can see now why you are such an awesome friend to have around. Katie is the most encouraging person you will ever meet. She’s wonderful.

Katherine Briggs:

And I never lie. I really mean that.

CJ Milacci:

She really is wonderful. So when you’re not crafting epic stories, what else do you like to do?

Katherine Briggs:

Mmm, I made my first from scratch masala chai tea like two weeks ago, I think.

CJ Milacci:

That sounds amazing.

Katherine Briggs:

I was really inspired. I have a friend from India who made some, and she told me what to do and where to search for recipes. And so I had my spices, I’m grinding them in my mortar and pestle, and I’m heating up my milk. It was really, really fun. That’s kind of a new thing though. I also have some plants

CJ Milacci:

Yes, beautiful.

Katherine Briggs:

that I try to keep alive, and I love them. I love my pothos so much, and I love reading. I am also a teacher, and in the last couple of years have really enjoy learning more about language acquisition. Personally, trying to learn my, or working faithfully on learning my second language and then also becoming a volunteer ESL, English as a second language, teacher.

CJ Milacci:

And another fun fact about Katie that I’m just throwing in here is that she and I bonded because we both love rap music. One day we just might come up with our own that we will share with all of our friends, but.

Katherine Briggs:

We might even have one in the works and it’ll be amazing.

CJ Milacci:

Yes, we just might.

Katherine Briggs:

I think we need like dance moves to go with it too.

CJ Milacci:

Oh, probably.

Katherine Briggs:

I think this just needs to be of epic proportions. I’m so excited.

CJ Milacci:

Katie has so many different parts of her personality. And I think that’s why your stories are so rich and full because you are such a multifaceted person and you bring that life into your stories. And I am not exaggerating when I say this is one of my favorite books that I have read this year. The Eternity Gate is so good and I highly recommend you go pick it up especially because it is now available. So Katie can you tell us where readers can find you and your books and all of the things?

Where Can You Get The Eternity Gate and Connect with Katherine Briggs?

Katherine Briggs:

Absolutely, and thank you so much. I’m so honored by that. I’m just so grateful that you enjoyed it, and I’m just grateful to be here, and I’m just very thankful.

You may order The Eternity Gate pretty much wherever you want. Any major retailer will have it. And on my website you can sign up for my email newsletter It’s www.katherinebriggs.com. I’m also active on Instagram. My handle is @katherinebriggs_author and I love meeting new people. It’s fun.

CJ Milacci:

Yay. So I will have links to all of those things in the show notes. So it’s a nice easy jump for people to go find your book and find you and all those things. Is there anything else you’d like to say before we close things up for today?

Katherine Briggs:

Thank you so much for having me and I’m just so excited that there’s this community of people who love YA. I love YA too. It’s so unique in what it offers, the coming of age story and we think that’s just tied to one stage of life. But I really think life is a continuing finding ourselves and hopefully growing and hopefully growing in a way that helps us live really peacefully and to love our neighbors. And I love that this community is excited about clean YA. Honest, right, we don’t wanna gloss over things, but honest, but clean YA, and seeking what is good, true, and beautiful in the world. I’m just very glad to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

CJ Milacci:

Oh, wonderful. Well, Katherine Briggs, thank you so much for being on Read Clean YA with CJ. It was marvelous to have you. I loved getting to have this conversation.

Katherine Briggs:

Thank you.

Wrapping Things Up

I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Katherine Briggs, author of The Eternity Gate. I loved getting to talk with her and share this fantastic story with you. And I meant it when I said this was one of my favorite books this year. Katie has such a beautiful way of writing, and I know you are going to fall in love with these characters and get swept away in the adventure.

This book is available wherever books are sold, and it just released yesterday at the time this episode airs, so be sure to check it out. And you can find the links to everything we discussed today at the top of this article.

Note for Sensitive Readers

This book does have life and death stakes and some scary elements, like the shadows we mentioned earlier, but it’s not gory. So unless you have a very sensitive reader, I think this book should be safe for any reader of young adult fiction.

Don’t Forget The September Goodies Giveaway!

Katherine Briggs has also graciously agreed to include a copy of The Eternity Gate in this month’s giveaway. So don’t forget to check out the link to the September Giveaway for Read Clean YA with CJ and find her book along with some other fantastic young adult books.

Here’s the link.

Coming Next Week

Next week, I’ll be talking with Sara Ella, author of the Wonderland Trials and the new upcoming release, The Looking-Glass Illusion, as well as several other fantastic young adult books, and I am so excited to share that interview with all of you, so don’t forget to tune in.

Thank you so much for listening to Read Clean YA with CJ. I’m excited to be on this journey with you.