The Visitors by Katy Newton Naas
Publication date: September 16th 2014
Genres: Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Genres: Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Sometimes soul mates find each other in unlikely places. But is love worth it if it risks your life?
Seventeen-year-old Noah is startled when he awakes one day to find that dangerous, irrational, self-serving, and destructive visitors called “humans” are coming to visit his beautiful, perfect society. All citizens are ordered to have limited contact and share minimal information with these visitors.
Sixteen-year-old Jady is thrilled to accompany her father and his crew on a trip to a recently-discovered planet, Verdant. The United States’ crew is hopeful that they can learn from this ad-vanced yet similar species.
Despite their greatest efforts to fight it, it doesn’t take long for Jady and Noah to fall in love and begin a secret affair. But when their relationship is revealed, danger is created for everyone in-volved…
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Interview with Author
question 1) What are you
working on?
Until very recently, I
have been working diligently on two writing projects! I just finished a novel
titled Healing Rain, and I am also in
the middle of the sequel to my debut novel, The
Visitors. Though they are both young adult fiction novels, they are very
different. Healing Rain is a
realistic contemporary piece about a teen girl starting over in a new town
after a devastating event changed her family and shook her Christian faith. She
is trying to keep her dark past a secret while juggling new friends (and
enemies), new love interest(s), therapy, and fitting in at her new high school.
I actually just received a contract on this story, which I am VERY excited
about, so look for it in the near future! The sequel to the The Visitors (which debuted in
September) is a science fiction piece with romance and action mixed in, but I
can’t give too many details just yet – I wouldn’t want to spoil the end of The Visitors! I’m hoping to have it
finished by the end of this month.
question 2) How does
your work differ from others in your genre?
I will focus on The Visitors, as this is my debut novel
and it’s currently on the market. I think it will be easier to answer this
question if you already know a little bit about the story, so here is a little
blurb about the novel:
Seventeen-year-old
Noah awakes one day to find that dangerous, irrational, self-serving, and
destructive visitors called “humans” are coming to visit his beautiful, perfect
planet. All citizens are ordered to have limited contact and share little
information with these visitors.
Sixteen-year-old
Jady is thrilled to accompany her father and his crew on a trip to a recently-discovered
planet, Verdant. The United States’ crew is hopeful that they can learn from
this advanced yet similar species.
Despite
their greatest efforts to fight it, it doesn’t take long for Jady and Noah to
fall in love and begin a secret affair. But when their relationship is
revealed, danger is created for everyone involved...
Some of the concepts in
the novel – teen romance, forbidden love, and futuristic space travel – are
universal, which people can relate to. The storyline, however, has several
unique features: I have created my own planet, with a dystopian society of
people who look like humans but are very, very different in the way they think
and live. My main characters, Noah and Jady, are young and get swept away in
love, but they’re both incredibly intelligent, brave, and strong in their own
ways. I hope that my readers will fall in love with them the way I have.
question 3) Why do you
write what you write?
I have been a writer my
whole life. It’s a passion. These ideas enter my head – sometimes through
dreams, sometimes in conversation with friends or at work when I’m teaching –
and they just won’t leave me alone until I write and release them. Young adult
literature is and has always been what I love. I think my love for working with
young people compels me to write for them as well.
question 4) How does
your writing process work?
I wouldn’t say I have
one magical formula for writing a novel. Writing BC – Before Child – was much
easier! I get an idea, and then create a rough outline for a story in my head.
I develop my main characters, picturing them as I imagine what their
personalities will become. Then, I just start writing. Some days I write more
than others, but I would guess that I average about ten pages a day, on good
days. Of course, with a full-time job and a family, there are many days that I
don’t reach that goal! I have to do most of my writing when my little man is
asleep. You will often find us in my recliner – him sprawled across my lap
asleep, me leaning over him and typing away on my computer. Once I complete a
novel, I usually step away from it for a few weeks. I then go back and read it
again, editing for any mistakes and changing any scenes that feel weak.
Sometimes this means cutting out entire chapters and rewriting them, so the
editing process can take a few weeks as well.
Interview about Main Characters
The Visitors is a young adult science fiction/romance. The first-person
viewpoint alternates between the two main characters, Noah and Jady.
1)
Who is your main
character? Is he/she a fictional or a historic person?
The male main character’s name is Noah. He is
a fictional, futuristic teen from a highly intelligent society on a
newly-discovered planet called Verdant. The female lead is Jady. She is a
fictional teen from the United States who is chosen to be part of the crew that
visits Verdant due to an important contribution she made to NASA.
2) When and where is the story set?
This story is set in 2078. The United States
has just learned that there is life on a very small planet that had been
largely ignored before the discovery. A crew goes to the Verdant in hopes of learning
from their very advanced society.
3) What should we know about Noah and Jady?
Noah is bold in a society where boldness is
basically unheard of. He is a valued member of his society because of one
special secret trait, but he doesn’t hesitate to put all he has – including his
own life – on the line when he believes in something strongly enough. In a
world of conformity, Noah stands out.
Though Jady is only sixteen, she has
incredible drive and focus. Her goal in life – becoming an astronaut and
exploring new planets, like her father – keeps her motivated. She is beyond
thrilled with the opportunity to visit Verdant and never expects to meet someone like Noah, much
less let him capture her attention the way he does.
4) What is the main conflict? What messes up
his/her life?
Noah has been ordered to minimize contact with
the human visitors, as they are considered extremely dangerous due to their
irrational and selfish behaviors. The conflict arises when he meets Jady and
finds himself compulsorily drawn to her.
5) What are the personal goal(s) of the characters?
At first, Noah’s primary goal is to explore
his feelings for Jady in secret so as to protect his position in society. As he
learns more about the humans and in turn, his own society, his goal becomes
bigger and less self-centered.
Jady’s personal goal upon arrival is to learn
as much as she can about Verdant and its citizens. When she meets Noah, he
shakes up her goal and she finds herself looking for more time to spend with him. However, things aren’t easy for the
two of them – especially when Noah’s life is put in danger because of her. She
then becomes focused on helping Noah survive.
AUTHOR BIO
Katy Newton Naas wears many hats: wife; mother to her young son, Aven, and her four-legged sons, Shakespeare and Poe; teacher of middle school reading and high school English; children’s church teacher; and now – her lifelong dream realized – author. Her debut novel, THE VISITORS, was released September 16, 2014. She graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale with a bachelor’s degree in English Education and a master’s degree in Reading and Language Studies. She resides and teaches in a small town in southern Illinois.
From a young age, Katy was always an avid reader and writer with a big imagination. She spent much of her childhood searching for ghosts and UFOs to no avail – but she hasn’t given up her hunt just yet. Though she continues to grow older, her true literature love is and has always been young adult fiction. She loves creating both futuristic and realistic stories about teenagers, and feels so fortunate to get to work with them every day as a teacher.
From a young age, Katy was always an avid reader and writer with a big imagination. She spent much of her childhood searching for ghosts and UFOs to no avail – but she hasn’t given up her hunt just yet. Though she continues to grow older, her true literature love is and has always been young adult fiction. She loves creating both futuristic and realistic stories about teenagers, and feels so fortunate to get to work with them every day as a teacher.
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