Q&A: T.J. Klune, Author of ‘The Extraordinaries’

A force to be reckoned with in the world of queer fiction, TJ Klune never ceases to amaze readers with the heartfelt and utterly authentic stories he pens. Just a few months after the release of his praised novel The House in the Cerulean Sea, Klune invites readers into the world of The Extraordinaires, the first installment in a YA trilogy that features heroes, villains, extraordinary people, and some that are just straight-up extra. The Nerd Daily had the opportunity to sit down with TJ and get answers to their burning questions.

Hi TJ! Thanks so much for speaking with us again! Why don’t we start this off with a lighting round? What was the last book you read, last movie you watched and last song you heard?

– Last book: Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy, a non-fiction novel about a doomed polar expedition.
– Last movie: Onward, and I bawled my eyes out at the end.
– Last song: Carried Me With You by Brandi Carlile

Besides reading and writing, what do you like to do in your downtime?

These days, my state is currently in a lockdown due to COVID-19, so I’m trying to keep busy without leaving my house unless I absolutely have to. I have little things I do around the house, something always needed to be fixed or painted. I also am spending far too much time playing Animal Crossing on my Switch, because it’s soothing and makes me happy.

There’s been a lot of chaos in the world lately and it can definitely impact a person’s mental health and creativity. What do you do to keep your head straight when the news is just too much? Any advice for fellow writers who can’t bring themselves to put pen to paper because of what’s going on?

For me, writing has always been a safe haven, something I can do when everything gets to be a bit too much. There’s no solution like going into a different world where the news isn’t so bad. That being said, sometimes things can get a little too heavy for me. I don’t try and push through it, something I’d recommend other writers consider. Some days, the words just won’t come, and if you try and force it, you run the risk of only making things worse when the words don’t come out like they’re supposed to. I always tell new writers to let yourself have a break for as long as you need to recharge. I do the same: I allow myself to walk away to clear my head until I can work through whatever is going on in my head. Before we were put under lock down orders due to COVID-19, I would normally take my dog on a long hike, and it usually helped me to tackle whatever writing issues I had.

You’re a bit of a writing machine, consistently writing and publishing multiple books a year – how do you manage to keep on top of all the different stories? And out of all the ones you’ve written so far, which one was the easiest and which one the hardest to write?

Since I was able to make this my fulltime job in 2016, I’ve had much more time to focus on what I love doing best: writing. Nothing really makes me happier than creating stories, and I’m not going to stop given that I’m bursting with ideas that I haven’t yet tackled.

The easiest book I’ve written was How to Be a Normal Person, because I loved every single second of writing that story. More often than not, I’ll come to a point in a book where I hit a wall and need to give myself some distance before continuing. That never happened with Normal Person. Everything just flowed.

On the flipside of that, the book that gave me the most trouble was Ravensong, the sequel to Wolfsong. It took me ages to figure out what I was doing wrong, why the story wasn’t doing what I wanted it to do. I’d made a very clear outline for Ravensong before starting (in addition to plotting out the two books that would follow it in the series), but for some reason, it just wasn’t clicking. I stepped away from the book, wrote something else, then came back to it. And when I did, I saw exactly what was wrong: I was trying too hard to make Gordo—the main character—act like Ox, the narrator from the previous book. Once I figured that out, I was able to shift (ha!) the story how I wanted it to be.

The Extraordinaries is the first book in a trilogy – something rarely done in YA. How did you feel approaching the story as a set of three? How did it impact your writing/planning process to know that there will be two more books?

Yes, it’s never, ever done in YA, so I’m something of a trailblazer (he said, tongue firmly planted in cheek). The Extraordinaries was always going to be a trilogy even when I first started, so it gave me some room to breathe when it came to crafting the characters. I knew there’d be time for all I wanted to imbue in these characters, so if I couldn’t fit it into the first book, there’d always be room in the two subsequent books. And while I did plan ahead for what would come in the sequels, having a larger picture in mind also allowed me to focus on the little moments in the first book, carefully crafting a world not so different from our own. I was able to lay the groundwork, and find threads in the story that would come up again in later books. It’s freeing to be able to write this way.

If you turned into an Extraordinary, what would be your origin story?

Extremely Booming Announcer Voice: Born into poverty in rural Oregon, TJ Klune rose from the ashes and turned into a semi-successful author who figured it was all right to write a book about a gay hornless unicorn and a horny dragon, all while teasing his long-suffering readers almost daily with hints about what’s to come.

(Now that I think about it, I’m probably a villain. I’m okay with this.)

Nick and his dad have some negotiations when it comes to how many questions Nick can ask about his dad’s encounters with Extraordinaries while on the job. If you could go back in time and wrangle three questions out of your younger self that he would have to answer truthfully, what would you ask?

Why are you so hard on yourself?

Why do you think Kevin Clifford is cute? (Hint: it’s because you’re super gay, dude, so be proud. And just an FYI, Kevin turns out to be a jerk, so move on.)

And finally, not a question, but some advice that I would love to tell younger self: The road ahead is going to be bumpy, and while you’ll sometimes feel like you’re having more bad days than good, I promise you that you’ll turn out all right, in the end. Allow yourself to make mistakes, and so long as you learn from them, you’ll grow up to be an okay person. I promise.

Nick Bell, the protagonist of The Extraordinaries, has ADHD and as you mentioned in your last interview with us, you also live with ADHD. Can you tell us a bit about writing from this vantage point? What are misconceptions or stereotypes that you hoped to address/clear up with Nick?

Oh man. I’m Nick through and through, especially the way we both think: way too fast, with a billion thoughts all at once, unsure of which I’m going to say out loud. I have ADHD just like Nick does, and while Nick struggles with what this means for him, I learned a long time ago that it’s not something to fear. Though I’m wired a bit differently than most other people, it’s my own personal superpower, something I wanted Nick to learn as the story went along. We’re not disordered. We just have something a little…extra.

The thing I want to stress to anyone who’s neurodiverse is that, yes, it may be called Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, but you are anything but disordered. You are exactly who you’re supposed to be, and while some days you’ll struggle more than others, I promise you that you’ll be okay.

The reason I wrote a character like Nick was because I wanted to see someone like me in a book, a queer, neurodiverse dude who talks too much, thinks too hard, and yet still manages to hold himself together. I know there are people like me out there, wanting to see themselves in fiction so they can point to a specific character and feel pride to know they’re being represented. And while the experience of being neurodiverse isn’t universal, it’s my hope that people will see part of Nick in themselves while they laugh and cringe at his adorable awkwardness.

Speaking of, what can readers who fell in love with Nick (*cough* me *cough*) expect for him in the sequel?

Nick is going on a journey, one he didn’t expect when he first became obsessed with the Extraordinaries in his city. The stakes will be higher, the action bigger, and while Nick and Seth will remain strong as a couple, there are other relationships Nick has that will be tested in ways he can’t prepare himself for. Let’s just say dear old dad has been keeping secrets….

And last but not least, do you have any book recommendations our readers should keep an eye out for?

I am on a big non-fiction kick lately. So, in addition to Labyrinth of Ice, I’d also recommend The Lost City of Z by David Grann, Dead Wake by Erik Larson, and The Adventurer’s Son by Roman Dial, which might turn out to be my favorite book I’ve read this year. It’s about a father whose son disappeared in a rainforest of Costa Rica, and his journey to find out what happened. It’s hopeful, heartbreaking, and if you’re not crying by the end, you’re doing it wrong.

Will you be picking up The Extraordinaries? Tell us in the comments below!