THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
Secrets We Keep
Get a behind-the-scenes all-access pass to Secrets We Keep by Valeriya Goffe!
***Synopsis***
This is the first book in the trilogy about a Ukrainian family
The trilogy tells the story of a Ukrainian family who are looking for their missing relatives in Africa. Back in the 1970’s, Grandfather Solomon came to study in the Soviet Union from Africa and married Grandmother Maria. He did not go into much detail about his African roots, so Maria had a very vague idea about where he came from.
A few years later, he got killed in a car accident, so the connection to Africa seemingly got lost forever... However, five decades later, Solomon’s granddaughter Anna lands a job in international development and travels to Africa for work. She starts investigation of the family mystery but encounters a lot of challenges. Eventually, war in Ukraine starts, making search even more complicated.
But step by step, Anna works on solving the family mystery and by the end of the third book, you should expect to have all the answers.
What is the sub-genre and trope? Did your characters lead you to this genre or
was that decided before the story began?
The genre is women’s fiction. Originally, I planned this to be a romance book, but as I kept writing, it got overtaken by events. It became a fiction novel with some elements of romance in it.
Are you more character or plot-driven?
I’m more character driven.
With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep them separated in your mind? Do you have a story/vision board above your workspace?
Oh, I know my characters real well, both main and secondary. I spend so much time with them but I know what they look like, what the enjoy, what they hate. I wouldn’t need a cheat sheet telling about either of them.
I know from previous interviews that characters take on a life of their own. Were any of the characters in this series determined to take their own direction instead of where you initially wanted them to go?
Of course. Some characters ended up very different from what I originally envisioned them to be. I even needed to change the plot a few times to account for that.
Are any of the male POVs based on anyone you know?
Yes and no. Two main male characters in the novel are definitely inspired by some people I had met over the course of my life, but I needed to throw in a lot of imagination plus some inspiration from my favorite authors and even some movies to come up with their final personalities. It’s a complicated process 😊
Are any of the female POVs based on anyone you know?
Some of the female characters are inspired by members of my family. For instance, Grandma Maria has a lot of similarities with my own Grandma (her name was Anna). She passed away some years ago, but I remember all the times we spent together very vividly. She was a wonderful, kind person, probably the best one we’d ever had in our family. She used to organize lovely birthday parties to which she’d invite a lot of friends and relatives. There is a birthday party in a book which is loosely based on those memories of mine.
When it comes to Maria’s decision not to remarry after she lost her beloved husband, I got this idea from another member of my family. My aunt lost her husband many years ago due to an accident, and she stayed single for the rest of her life, raising her two wonderful daughters, my cousins. It was definitely not easy, but she followed her heart.
Anna’s two dogs, Lapa and Zirka, are also based on the dogs I used to know back in Ukraine. This is a bit of a sad story. Some years ago, we used to have several stray dogs living in the area where our country house (or “dacha” as we call it) is located. A lot of people in the area, including our family, took care of these dogs. We even constructed a large dog house for them to hide in winter. When one of the dogs got run over by a car, we took her to the vet and had her leg fixed…Unfortunately, all of these dogs are no longer with us. Nevertheless, they live on in our hearts and, thanks to my book, the readers can also find out about them. Lapa and Zirka, two stray dogs, get adopted by Anna, and their life immediately changes to the better. This is the power of writing I discovered—I can “fix” with my magic pen whatever went wrong in the real life and bring my characters to a happy ending.
Was there any one character/scene that was harder to write about than the other?
Some scenes took a longer time to write because I wanted to really immerse myself into them to make them more authentic.
For example, when writing the scene which takes place in Zanzibar, I had to go back to a lot of photos and videos which I took on my trips to the island. I needed to remember what it felt like, watching that incredible golden sunset unfolding in front of my eyes and fairy-tale-like dhow boats with their triangular sails rocking up and down on the waves.
Similarly, the scenes in Jekyll Island are also very dear to my heart. I spent lots of time writing those chapters, as a lot of things which the characters do are essentially what our family used to do on vacations to Jekyll Island.
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
My favorite character is the main heroine, Anna Levenko. She is smart, kind, and brave, she doesn’t give up. After everything she had to go through, she still keeps fighting till the end. True, she makes a bad mistake in the beginning of the book, and this mistake keeps haunting her for a long time, but this mistake just makes the character more real, I think. We all make mistakes. We all sometimes need a second chance.
How do you get inside these characters’ heads to find their perfect HEA?
Each character is different, and as the result, HEA would be different from one character to another.
Some people, like Anna’s mother and father, are just happy together. They don’t need much (although a little extra money would help).
Grandmother Maria is a totally different case. With her beloved husband passing away many years ago, she never wanted another man in her life. What she longs is some closure: finding out where Solomon was from, getting to know his relatives.
Anna… Well, Anna wants a guy of her dreams. Nothing less. Romantic, fearless, adventurous, environmentally cognizant. The list goes on and on. Somebody who would sweep her off her feet and make her head spin with the greatest romance story of all time. It takes some time to find a guy like that, but she gets there. Eventually. Not without some heartbreak along the way, of course.
What scene in this book/series sticks out the most for you? Why?
Probably the one when Anna and Jean are watching the golden sunset in Zanzibar together. It’s a really gorgeous view, and getting your first kiss with the man you like in such an incredible setting would be out of this world, I think. Anna is a very lucky girl.
Many people come to Zanzibar on honeymoons (it’s a very popular destination), but not that many can say they fell in love on Zanzibar.
How long did it take you to write this book/series?
It took me a couple of years to write and polish the first book.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
I think the title Secrets We Keep perfectly reflects what is going on in the first book.
Solomon had a secret. Anna has a secret. Each secret we keep impacts our own life and the life of others, sometimes in a profound way. We need to think about that when choosing to keep a secret.
If you met these characters in real life would you get along?
Definitely! I’d be very happy to have such friends as the Levenko family.
Series question – Did you know in advance that you were going to write this as a series or did one of the characters in book one demand their own story?
No, this was planned as a series from the start.
If your book/series were made into a movie, which actors do you see as playing your characters?
What a lovely question. I think every write secretly dreams that one day, his or her book will be made into a Hollywood movie.
I imagine that someone like Anne Hathaway or Keira Knightly could play Anna. That’s the way I imagine Anna. Kate Hudson would be a perfect Emily. It’s a bit more difficult with male characters. Can’t think of an actor who looks exactly like either one of them. But I presume, Christian Bale or George Clooney could play David and Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise would get the role of Jean. Let’s keep our options open for now.
Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next? Whether a new book and series or a sequel to an existing series? Can you share a small tease?
I’ve been writing the second book for about a year now, and I need a few more months to finish. Life gets in the way, but I’m getting very close.
The second book will provide a lot of answers, like where Solomon came from and who caused the car accident he got killed in, but getting these answers won’t be easy, as the characters will have to deal with the realities of war in Ukraine.
You can expect to see some characters who you already know from the first book and also some new ones. Stay tuned!
Anna Levenko was set to become the next "it girl" in tennis. The first Ukrainian prophesied to win a Grand Slam… And then everything changed. Years later, with a business degree behind her, an unpaid job keeping her busy, and a family that means well, Anna can't help but dream of something bigger. What's one little white lie in the grand scheme of things?
But Anna's dream job isn't just sunshine and roses. Her first project takes her to Tanzania, and everything that could go wrong, does. Not to mention her woeful love life. Will she ever reach the life she's worked so hard for? Or is success just not in the cards for Anna?
Congratulations! lynngriffinauthoruk
ReplyDeleteYour book sounds so interesting, and so timely. Loved the interview!
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