BookWorthy Chats with YA Author Katherine Briggs

---

Valerie- Welcome to Bookworthy. Today, we're talking with YA fantasy author Katherine Briggs. She crafted her first monster story at age three, and since graduating from crayons to a laptop, she devours and weaves fantasy tales while enjoying a cup of chai tea. Today, we're

talking about her threshold duology, which includes book one, The Eternity Gate, and book two, The Immortal Abyss, where kings and monsters battle over a legendary treasure. Welcome to Bookworthy Katherine.

Katherine -Thank you so much, Valerie. I'm so glad to be here today.

Valerie -It is a pleasure to have you. Now, from your website's bio, you prefer tea over coffee, but which do you prefer to visit, the beach or the mountains?

Katherine -I think that a cup of hot tea goes very well with the mountains. I love hiking. I love trees. I love nature and hearing birdsong. I love the beach too, but the mountains.

Valerie -I know they're both wonderful, and both have their atmosphere and aesthetic, but it's one of those like if you had to pick one, where would you go? But a cup of chai tea would go better in the mountains than on the beach. Too fun. Well, Katherine, tell us a little bit about the inspiration for your books.

Katherine -Well, I love characters when I read. Love, well, I guess what I really love is watching people persevere through difficult things and, triumph over challenges and find unique ways to work with challenges. And so I think I like to explore that in books. And I guess the inspiration for my books is usually a character who is struggling through something difficult or just has something big ahead they have to solve, and I just enjoy kind of puzzling that out, I suppose.

Valerie - Well, what in the Eternity Gate, you start us off by your main character doing something she's not supposed to. She's going against the King's orders, and you kind of throw her into the action quickly and kind of, you did a great job because I'm just sitting here like, I don't even think we're in chapter two, and I'm already like gasping for breath here.

Katherine - I try, I try Valerie.

Valerie -Well, you have some unique names because this is a fantasy world that you have created. You have Sayo as the main character we follow in book one, and I believe Toll is who we follow in book two, correct?

Katherine -Yes, that was fun having dual protagonists. I enjoyed that a lot.

Valerie -Yeah, you mentioned Toll a few times in Eternity Gate, so I'm, I've read book one, but I've not read book two yet. So I'm looking forward to kind of hearing her side of the story, too. But where did you come up with all these unique names?

Katherine -I just like, it's gonna sound strange, I like saying sounds out loud with letters that I enjoy hearing until I find something that sounds nice, and then I just start typing it out in the ways that look interesting and fantasy-ish to me. But these names, at the time of writing The Eternity Gate, I was good friends with this woman from South Korea, and she had invited me to come and stay with her for a month, and I was just so inspired by her culture and her country, and I asked her, would you help me kind of weave just like a taste of some of these really cool aspects into this book and she did, and so I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Valerie -It's always fun. Like, there's a lot of fantasy books. There's usually a glossary or a pronunciation guide or something in there just because it is unique. And sometimes I think when reading if they don't have those pronunciation guides, you make up your version of it. And then when the movie comes out, you're like, what? Who is that? That's not exactly.

Katherine -I like my way better. No one asked. I did make a pronunciation guide and put it up on my website because so many people wanted to know how to say these words. Believe it or not, I tried so hard to make them easy. I did try.

Valerie -Hahaha! Well, they're very unique for sure. And in both of these books, culture and language kind of are a big part of the stories. And there is a lot of stuff you hint at, but you don't go into all the details of the political intrigue and all that. But how long did you work on the world-building for this book before you started to write?

Katherine -I typically have an idea of where I'm going with the world-building. And then as I write, kind of discover it along the way, the details, lot of them, really a lot, even some of the bones show up as I'm writing and I do a lot of research. I think our world is just incredible. And

I like to be inspired by things in real life and kind of tweak them a little bit to fit into my world. Because I don't believe there's anything new under the sun. So I like to borrow. Yeah, I just have fun with it. I know in the eternity gate, they have to traverse these rocky tunnels. And so I researched portions of our country and other countries that have that. And then I remember my hikes and things like that. And what does it feel like to touch these rocks?

Are they crumbly? Are they hard? And you know, what would this be like? So I just kind of have fun with it.

Valerie -It was a lot of fun because what is it? Think at one point, the monsoons come in, and there's water over the rocks, and you talk about slipping on moss and that feeling, and I felt it. It's one of those like, I know that feeling and when a book really kind of connects with something you've experienced, something you know, you know, you have a book that is engaging and you're connecting with. Now, what is kind of your desire for these readers to walk away with what particular idea?

Katherine -Absolutely, because I think most authors, especially in our circles, tend to write what they'd like to read or to offer something wholesome and edifying to their readers. And for me, when I sign the eternity gate, I'll add a little tagline that small actions change the world. And I feel like that's what Sayo does. She feels very humble. She doesn't feel super important, but she's given these choices to make huge changes in our country and to affect

the lives of her friends and family. We may not find a key to an ancient doorway that needs to be opened. However, all of our actions do matter, and they do affect the world around us. So I enjoyed dramatizing that for the eternity gate.

Valerie -It was neat how, like, almost every character that says, I'm in contact with, she saw at different points in the journey and how, like, okay, how am I going to interact with this person this time? I was pretending to be this last time, and I have to be this this time. And, you know, kind of that confusing, how do I present myself? How do I stay true to who I am? And the whole thing, which is great for teens and young adults to be reading through because that's kind of their where they're at in the world is deciding who they are and who they're going to be.

Katherine -Yes, who am I? And we still figure that out, don't we? It gets sharper and sharper. Yes.

Valerie -What is it they say you we always ask kids? What do you want to be when you grow up I'm still trying to figure it out. So My kids are always like, I have to figure it out, like no, no, let's take that pressure off your shoulders just a little bit because

Katherine -I love it, I'm so glad. I'm so glad you do that because I think otherwise, we would just be trusting in ourselves, too. If we just felt like we could figure it all out, it would just be perfect. Yeah.

Valerie -And no, definitely not. Too fun. Okay. Quick question. Why two books instead of three books?

Katherine -I, they're, okay, I'll confess. It was originally planned as a trilogy, but I talked with my publisher, who is just awesome and very wise and has been in the industry for a long time. And we realized one of the books kind of stepped back in time, and it was very far back in time. And we thought that doesn't, you know, it just didn't work. And then we thought this kind of dual, especially because duologies are so popular right now, seemed to fit that. And we thought, okay, let's just go for that. It seems like the best shape without a huge overworking of the plot, but I would like to write a trilogy. Think trilogies are the best. I love them.

Valerie -This one is it, perfection comes in threes, just like the Trinity. Think there's a correlation between our desire for. You know, trilogies and the Trinity. I don't know. There's a connection there, for sure. That is interesting that there is this, you know, trend and duologies over trilogies, but I think that's really unique in just how much world-building you've done. You have created a world.

 Katherine -No, I agree. Think, yes. Absolutely.

Valerie -Similar to the Shadow and Bone series, where they had the trilogy and then went off and did a duology and war. Can't remember how many books, but you have created a world that's jumping into. It could come from different angles. So, I am excited about one of our questions later. Let's just say.

Katherine -Thank you. Thank you for your kind words. And I've never read that series. Need to, and you're not the first person who's mentioned that connection. So now I'm like super intrigued.

Valerie -Mm-hmm. Well, yours has a, what is it? A little bit more of a, almost in my opinion, kind of a Middle Eastern vibe. And, but what is it? Shadow and Bone has a Russian vibe to it. So it is pretty, pretty unique. But Katherine, when did your writing journey begin?

Katherine -It began at age three. I kid you not, my mom gave me, or I think, yes, it did. It began at age three, with my mom giving me a notebook and my crayons, as we've already shared. And I did create a three-eyed monster stick figure guy. he was, yeah, the monsters go way back with me. He was interesting because he knew he was a bad guy. He would capture

the main characters, but he didn't want to be a bad guy. So I don't know what that means for a three to five-year-old creating this complex character who I think was getting better. Maybe that's a good thing. I don't know. There we go. There we go. I love Wreck-It Ralph.

Valerie -Little wreck at Ralph there, right? Because there was it, we always have a choice, a choice to choose. Are we going to be bad or good or, know, or what is it? Even the wicked movie talks about, or I, you know, is it, is even this thrust upon us or is it, you know, a choice we make? And I think that it's, it's important. Very true.

Katherine -Yeah. So this is an important question to ask because it changes your life, which one you believe.

Valerie -The Threshold Duology is not a Christian book in a sense, correct? But they're right. Right. But there are a lot of Christian vibes in there. What, which are super fun to find, but what made you kind of want to go that direction with the book to go a little bit more, a little more general audience rather than the Christian market?

Katherine -This has been such a hot topic for so long, and I'm still figuring it out. I tried to be true to the characters, but I also knew some of the popular YA fantasy series that I've read. There's almost always zero. They never mentioned faith to me, in the ones I've read, it's just not there. And looking at history, that doesn't ring true to me. So, I knew there needed to be some form of faith. And, of course, I am a Christian, and I do want the good to be good and the bad to be bad. For this series, sticking to those parameters seemed to work for this story. And then, man, there are some amazing depictions of Christ in literature that just blow my mind. And I tried to explore that a bit more in the Immortal Abyss, but for the Eternity Gate, my thought was, God's so huge if I can take one attribute or even to like justice and mercy and try to tackle that. That's way more than I can handle. So, that was my attempt.

Valerie -I'd say you did a good job. Because yeah, this, this elements of God are so hard to put into our, I don't know, mental capacity and to even just explore, like you said, justice and mercy. And, you know, you came up with a whole book on just that kind of idea, which is not forced on you or preached at, but you're like, okay, let's explore.

Katherine -thank you, Valerie. I appreciate that.

Valerie -what is fair, what is right, where do I stand in front when faced with either destruction or reconciliation in a sense? And so it's unique.

Katherine -Yes, and not giving the answers, think, for especially a YA audience, which is very broad, letting, kind of like the parables, letting people mull over what they have experienced and what they see too, I think is powerful, something to chew on.

Valerie -Definitely. one of the, what is it? JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis are kind of the fathers of fantasy in a sense. It's like, that's what their books did, too. And it's just to weave, like you said, there's nothing new under the sun. Weave a little bit of our world into another world to help us see the world around us a little bit better. Too fun. Well, did you always want to be an author?

Katherine -Yes, exactly. I love that.

Valerie - Katherine, you obviously started writing at three, but did you walk away from that thought for a little while and come back?

Katherine -I did take a break from it. I have taken some breaks that have lasted a couple of years, but I have written pretty consistently pretty much my whole life. As far as wanting to be an author, I knew I always wanted to write stories. Being an author, thinking kind of came into my mind in my later teens when I thought I'd like to share my stories with others. And then that makes you an author, in my opinion.

Valerie -Very true. We struggle with that for a long time to claim that title. But yeah, as soon as we say we want to share our stories, it's definitely when that title becomes our own, I suppose. Well, then there's the author and writer. Well, there's, yeah, there's a writer and author. It's a whole, we don't know. Like I said, we're all still trying to figure it out, right?

Katherine -Hmm. That's my opinion. I think so. What's the difference? We don't know. Yeah, yeah. If you wrote a good story, I want to read it. There we go.

Valerie -There we go. There you go. All right. So, what is your favorite book, Katherine?

Katherine -Well, I mean, I love your podcast. Know I can't say the Bible because you'll say, okay, I need another one because my favorite, my favorite that's impacted me for a long time is the horse and his boy. I just love the depiction of the lions and the cats. As far as a new book coming out that I enjoyed, I was able to early read True Cursed by Angie Dickinson, which is another Enclave book. It's coming out in late February of 2025, and it was so fun. It kind of, I really, I enjoyed it. And it reminds me of some of the fantasy world vibes, maybe of the

eternity game. Maybe I just, I loved, I liked that a lot.

Valerie -Well, yeah, as soon as you said the horse and his boy, I'm like, totally have eternity gate vibes in that. Let's go. Too fun. Yeah. What is it? I have the Chronicles right there on my shelf, and yeah, I think it's one of those books. Like, I read through the series at least every couple of years because it's just so sweet. All of it. So it's fun.

Valerie - Okay, so what can we expect next from you, Miss Katherine?

Katherine -Well, I am working on two semi-secret projects. I say semi-secret because I tend to drop hints, pretty big hints about them, to my email newsletter. But one thinks it's going to be a standalone fantasy in a new world. And then the other one is a little more on the science-fiction side. And I got started publishing science fiction short stories. I love fantasy, and I think it's my favorite confession, but Science fiction is really fun. So I'm kind of enjoying dabbling in that as well. So, more to come.

Valerie -Very neat. Right, more to come. All right, then, if you like sci-fi, I have to ask the very important question: Star Wars or Star Trek? It definitely has those fantasy themes and gospel themes in it as well Hence why it is still a fan favorite for sure.

Katherine -Yes. My goodness. I think I'd have to say Star Wars. I do like Star Wars. I agree. Those deeper things, I think. Yeah. They carry for a long time.

Valerie - A long time. Yes. Well, where can people find out more about you and your books, Katherine?

Katherine -I love to connect with people through my email newsletter. You can grab that along with a free welcome gift from www.katherinebriggs.com. I also am on Instagram at katherinebriggs_author.

Valerie -Very fun. We'll make sure to have those links in the descriptions. And from what you said earlier, you like to drop hints in that newsletter. So we'll have to make sure to hop on there so we can see what's coming.

Katherine -I may send out those earlier science fiction short stories as a short story collection as a welcome gift. There might even be a quiz about elemental giftings about the eternity gate in the immortal abyss as well. So, you know, fun things.

Valerie -That does sound fun. Well, Katherine, thank you so much for being with us today.

Katherine -I appreciate being here, Valerie. Thank you for inviting me.

Valerie -It's my pleasure. And thank you for joining Katherine and me on this episode of the Bookworthy podcast. Check the show notes for any books or links that we've discussed, and let us know in the comments if you prefer to visit the mountains or the beach. And it's not too late to join the Bookworthy summer reading challenge. You can find all the information at www.valeriefentress.com.

Happy reading.