Q&A: TJ Klune, Author of ‘The House in the Cerulean Sea’

T J Klune is an absolute powerhouse in the queer fiction world, consistently releasing 3 to 4 novels per year and remaining a top choice for those who want a slow burn romance with an emphasis on found family. This March,  Klune releases his first novel with publishing powerhouse Tor Books in the form of The House in the Cerulean Sea, a tale of found family, new relationships and the literal Anti-Christ. In May comes his debut YA The Extraordinaries with the year rounding out in august with the final novel of the Green Creek series, Brothersong. Nerd Daily contributor Tasha Leigh had the opportunity to sit down with TJ and discuss this years releases.

So, you are well known within the reading community for your amazing writing style and queer romance. Do you have a tried and tested recipe? Or does it simply come to you during the drafting process?

It really depends on the type of story I’m telling. While the bones are there for what readers can expect from a TJ Klune story, I don’t want to write the same way for every book I write. If I did the same book over and over, I’d get bored, and it’d show through my writing.

For example, my upcoming novel, The House in the Cerulean Sea, was always going to be story first, romance second. While the relationship Linus Baker forms with Arthur Parnassus is important, it’s not just about that specific relationship. It’s also about the familial relationship Linus has with the children of the orphanage he’s investigating. It’s through his bonds with the children that Linus is able to come out of his rigid shell and allow himself some peace and happiness with Arthur. Without one, there couldn’t be the other.

Do you write the romance first and then the overarching narrative? Or the opposite way around?

Story always comes first. I like to build the narrative around a romance, but it doesn’t always have to be the focal point.

In Cerulean, Linus isn’t the type to think about romance. He’s convinced himself he’s fine on his own, and that his life is ordered the way he wants it to be. He’s stuck in a bit of a rut, though he doesn’t quite know it. I knew going into the book that not only would the children he’s investigating would upend his life, but so would Arthur, who slowly but surely chips away at the walls Linus has constructed around himself. So many things come into play with Linus over the course of the novel: his understanding that the world isn’t how it should be, the part he’s played as a case worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, the way he interacts with the children, and his consternation over his evolving feelings about Arthur Parnassus. There are so many moving parts that have to be juggled carefully, because if thing falls, they all do. But it’s through this juggling act that Linus sees the life he’s led isn’t the life he’s supposed to have, that so long as he’s brave enough to do so, he can carve out a little corner of the world for himself.

And it’s much more organic this way, especially since it leads to the romance with Arthur. It’s believable, because Linus has to change his outlook in order to accept that he can have something as precious as this. The romance works because the story allows it to get to that point, and not the other way around.

You manage to expertly juggle a day job while also releasing an average of 4 books a year. Any tips on time management for those of us out there who are flailing at the thought of drafting as well as a 9-5?

Honestly, I wish I could give better advice, but the fact remains that I’ve been writing full time for four years. I quit the security of ten year career in 2016 because I was a) in a financial place to do so and b) I had the drive to stick with it. It was a scary time, leaving the safety of a salaried position, but there is no way I could have kept up with my output had I stayed in my cubicle job. Something had to give, so I sat down and worked out if it was possible for me to quit and focus on writing.

I suppose the best advice I can give for those considering doing something similar is to make sure you’re aware of all the potential outcomes. You might try and succeed. You might try and fail. You have to be ready for anything. I’ve been smart with my money and time. I write by a set schedule (which works for me): four days a week, six hours a day, usually around five thousand words a day. Some days I write more, some days I can’t write at all, but I know my limits because I have to.

Your first novel from publisher Tor, releases on March 17^th and is titled The House in the Cerulean Sea. How would you describe the novel to those who have yet to discover this masterpiece?

The House in the Cerulean Sea is a comedic fantasy sent in a world not much different from our own. In this world, magical beings are seen as “lesser” and something to be feared. Therefore, they have to be regulated by the government. Linus, the main character, is a case worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. His job is to visit the government-sanctioned orphanages to make sure the children who’ve been taken from their families are being well-cared for.

At its beating heart, Cerulean is a story about discovery, about seeing people for who they really are rather than what the world wants them to be. It’s about standing up and speaking for those whose voices are buried in fear and bureaucracy. And, above all else, it’s about kindness. Kindness to ones self, and kindness to others.

What inspired your MC Linus, the ever prickly professional?

Linus was the first voice I heard when forming the idea for Cerulean. He is a fussy fellow, following the rules because it’s expected of him. He’s lonely, but he doesn’t quite understand just how lonely he is. He’s not exactly a stereotypical hero, and would rather go along to get along. But it was important to me to have a character such as him, a cog in a machine that never runs down, to show that change can start where we least expect it to, so long as someone is brave enough to stand up for the truth. At the opening of the novel, Linus isn’t that man, but he is set on a path to do just that.

I can’t say if there was any one specific inspiration for Linus. But when I began to write the novel, I remember being delighted with just how prickly he was, and that it was all a front for someone who longed to have a home of his own.

The children who reside on Marsyas Island are all things weird and wonderful, ranging from creatures of legend to the literal Anti-Christ. Can you tell me a little about the development of these amazing kids?

I wanted the children to all have distinct personalities. Writing children can be difficult, especially if they—as characters—tend to be too precocious. While this is a fantasy, children who don’t act their age can often pull the reader out of the story.

So while these children are capable of impossible feats of the imagination, they’re still just that: children. They have dreams, flights of fancy, wishes that only children can have. They see the world as a wide and wonderful place. At the same time, they are also aware of their position, and what people think of them. It’s a thin line to walk, but I though it important not to shy away from their reality. They know what they are, and they know others do too. If I didn’t acknowledge that, it could come across as disingenuous. I worked harder on the six main children, perhaps more than any other characters, because I needed Linus to see life through their eyes to help him become the man he was always supposed to be.

If you had to pick a favourite extraordinary child, who would it be and why? (I loved Chauncey because he’s just squish and cute goals. Also Talia – I swear she is the literary embodiment of my daughter’s attitude)

I know that most readers will probably be drawn to Lucy—the Antichrist—and I can see why. He’s wicked smart, heartbreakingly funny, and while the son of the devil, has a mischievous heart of gold.

That being said, Chauncey—the amorphous green blob—will always be my favorite. He is literal sunshine and only wants one thing in all the world: to be a bellhop. There’s something so startlingly innocent about it and him, and I enjoyed seeing him have his dreams realized.

House, as well as many of your other novels feature the concept of ‘found family’ quite predominantly. What draws you to this specific theme in your work?

The found family trope is important to me, not just as a writer, but as a queer person. Queer people sometimes have to make families of their own because their real families don’t appreciate them as they should. I come from such a place, and while it was hard at the beginning, I built a family of my own with people who love me for me, and not because they wanted me to be something different. Family isn’t always the people you’re born to. It’s the people who love you, no matter who you fall in love with.

Throughout the course of House, most of the characters are discriminated against for being ‘different’, a fact that mirrors the current world order. In a world that sees different as wrong, how do you feel the influx of own-voices literature is affecting the world of publishing and as a secondary effect, public opinion?

Own Voices authors are a necessity. We need queer people telling queer stories, but not just for queer people. They’re for anyone who wants to read them.

Young Adult fiction is leading the way for diversity, and rightly so. More and more, marginalized voices are having their stories told. It’s my hope that that which is considered adult fiction follows suit more than it has.

Do I hope I can help change minds with my words? Sure. Of course I do. Do I actually expect that to happen? I don’t know. Fear and bigotry are often ingrained in us at a young age, and it can be difficult to change minds about such things. The best I can hope for is that if someone reads my books, they do so with an open mind, and maybe they can use what they learned going forward in their lives. It’s sounds a bit trite, but dreams sometimes are.

Your YA debut, The Extraordinaries, also releases this year from Tor Teen in May. Its been described as Renegades meets Fangirl and follows Nick Bell, an ordinary boy obsessed with superheroes. How did this change of genre come about?

I wanted to write a book for queer kids that wasn’t a coming out story. While the coming out trope is valid and has a necessary place, I didn’t want to write that. I wanted to write a story where the main characters are all out and proud, and are supported by their families who only want their kids to be happy.

When I was a teenager, books with queer characters were often filled with offensive stereotypes, or the queer character existed merely as a plot point: they got hurt because of their sexuality, or they got sick and died. While fiction—thankfully—has mostly drifted away from that, we still have a lot of work to do.

Add to it the fact that we’re given “representation” in blockbuster movies like the Marvel movies or Star Wars, which has amounted to ten seconds of screen time between characters that aren’t even part of the main cast. We’re fed scraps and told it’s a full meal. That’s not right. I wanted to write a comic book movie in the form of a book, and to give queer people what they deserve: to be front and center and allowed to be human, to make mistakes and learn from them.

Can readers expect your signature style of burn within this one?

You can. I love the long, slow burn.

Will Extraordinaries be a standalone like House? Or will we be waiting eagerly for more instalments of Nick and Seth?

It’s actually the start of a trilogy (something, as I’m sure you’re aware, is never, ever done in YA). I’ve already written the second book, and later this year, I’ll write the third and final. This was always envisioned as a three book series because I wanted to spend as much time with these characters as I could, without dragging it out too much. While I don’t want to knock other series that have dozens of books, I think it’s important to have an endgame in sight, a definitive ending so that the reader doesn’t get bored while reading book 26 of a series.

Is there anything else you tell me about The Extraordinaries? 

The Extraordinaries is one of the first books I’ve written where I address something I have: ADHD. Nick, the main character, also has ADHD, and I wanted to give a voice to people like me, people who are neurodiverse. I struggled for a long time with ADHD, thinking it made me an “other”, just another thing that made me different than anyone else. I learned to accept and love that part of me—it is, in it’s way, my own personal superpower—and I wanted Nick to have the same realization. He struggles with how his brain is wired, but he learns to accept that part of himself.

Where can readers expect to see you in the coming months?

Everywhere, it seems like! Beginning in March, I’ll be on a country-wide book tour for Cerulean, followed by another book tour in May in support of The Extraordinaries. I can’t wait to see everyone to talk books!

Is there anything in the works that you can tell us about?

Many, many things, as it turns out. I love writing, so much so that I get restless if I go on to long without putting words to a page. Aside from Cerulean and Extraordinaries, I have the fourth and final volume in my Green Creek series—Brothersong—coming out in August. And then I’m going to take a nice, long break until 2021 where I’ll have three more books coming out: The Tremendous Death of Wallace Price (queer fantasy from Tor), Extraordinaries II (Tor Teen) and a third book that I’m not quite ready to discuss as of yet. 2022 is already pretty much set too, with two planned books, and a third which I’m going to start writing in the next couple of weeks or so.

What would you tell your younger self about your road to published author if you had the chance?

It’s going to be hard. The road won’t always be easy, but so long as you believe in yourself and the stories you’ll write, you’re going to be just fine, in the end.

And last question for a bit of fun, if you could only read 5 more books in your lifetime, what would they be?

It by Stephen King, A Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon, The Lost City of Z by David Grann, The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren, and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

QUICKFIRE ROUND

• Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction!
• Plotter or pantser? Depends on the story, but usually plotter.
• Favourite bookish trope? Found family (natch).
• Least favourite bookish trope? Bury the gays
• Coffee or tea? Tea
• Pizza or pasta? Pizza
• Beach holiday or hiking in the bush? Hiking! (I have a dumb fear of the ocean)
• Convention crowds or smaller signings? Smaller signings.
• Sunny or rainy? Rainy
• If you could pick a single holiday destination for the rest of your life, where would it be? Ireland.
• Music, books or Netflix – you can only pick 2? Books and Netflix.
• If you could recommend five authors to the general public that are must reads, who would they be? Bart Yates, Stephen King (and up and coming author you might have heard of), Robert McCammon, Patricia Nell Warren, and Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes is an absolute treasure, and if you haven’t read the collections since you were a kid, I absolutely recommend picking them up again and seeing just how many things you might have missed as a younger reader. I’m in awe at the multiple levels each comic strip works on.)

Will you be checking out TJ’s new books? Tell us in the comments below!