Author Interview: Katja Labonté
Today I am excited for the opportunity to share an interview with a fellow Canadian author and longtime friend, Katja Labonté.
Katja has just released her new nonmagical Christian fantasy novel, A Noble Comfort, and she’s joining us to talk about the story, it’s multifaceted inspiration, and some of the highs and lows of pulling the whole narrative together.
About A Noble Comfort
As lady-in-waiting to the crown princess, Thalassa d’Acton is used to hectic palace life. The bustle is a good excuse to avoid thinking of the insecurities that plague her. But when a usurper takes over the throne, Thalassa finds herself and her princess imprisoned in a lonely tower—and with all the time in the world to worry.
Outlawed Azaziah has roamed the land for years with his band of Inseparables. Playing knight errant was a God-given task, and helps him bear the knowledge that evil is spreading over his land unopposed. But now he alone knows the secret plans of the usurpers… and he isn’t enough to overturn the peril himself.
As personal and political turmoil heightens, despair floods over the hearts of Thalassa and Azaziah. What can comfort them even in the face of defeat? And can their inadequacy and loneliness possibly be the very opening the Eternal needs to change the course of their country’s destiny?
A Noble Comfort is a nonmagical Christian fantasy retelling of The Blue Bird and is Book #16 in the Cornerstone Series. Each book can be read as a standalone.
One of the things I love about Katja’s writing is the kindness that comes through in her characters. Even when they’re facing incredibly overwhelming circumstances, I always feel like her people are people I would enjoy having in my life.
Plus, in my opinion, her ideal reader happens to mesh pretty perfectly with our SAW community—but more on that further down!
Inspiration (And Some Classic Book Recs)
Courtenay: Can you share a little about the original inspiration for A Noble Comfort?
Katja: Well, when we signed up for the Cornerstone series, there were some pre-picked fairytales all ready for us to choose from. A lot of other fairytales I’d have rather done had already been chosen, and I don’t know fairytales in general, so after wavering between The Wounded Lion and The Blue Bird, I went with The Blue Bird because it sounded easier to retell.
While planning my retelling, I drew heavy inspiration from The Three Musketeers, including lots of its elements to retell as well. (I’d just read it and was really disappointed, so I was eager to create something similar but clean.) Other inspiration was drawn from favourite books and authors like The Enchanted Dolls’ House by Robyn Johnson, The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster, Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall, Joseph Haydn, the Merry Little Peasant by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher, Ma vie de princesse by Cheryl Harness, L’imagerie des princesses by Émilie Beaumont, the Anne of Green Gables series, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott; or favourite TV shows and films like the Nelvana “Babar” TV show; the 1990 “Prince & the Pauper” Disney special; and the Robin Hood 1973 Disney film. (I could list so many more things but that’s enough.) And finally, a lot of Thalassa was based on me, of course. She’s probably the FMC [female main character] most like me that I’ve ever written.
Challenges of a Nonmagical Retelling
Courtenay: What are some of the unique challenges that come with crafting a nonmagical version of a fairytale?
Katja: Well, removing the magic can be quite tricky, because then you have to come up with plausible human ways to create what in the original fairytale is just palmed off as #becausemagic. Fortunately, I didn’t have too much trouble with The Blue Bird. The magic mostly centres around the prince becoming a blue bird; I retold that by making him a musician whose favourite colour is blue. 😉
Another issue for fairytale retellings in general is the asinine behaviour of people in fairytales, like crying themselves to death or saying whoever can make their daughter laugh gets to be the new king. In The Blue Bird, this includes the prince believing that the princess betrayed him (despite all she went through for him) and deciding to marry the villain after all! It took some difficulty for me to rewrite the ending in a sensible way, but I was able to keep my prince and princess from making fools of themselves. ;P
The Heart of the Story
Courtenay: What is the key message you hope readers will take from the heart of this story?
Katja: That God truly loves them, and he’s all they really need. He is all-powerful, and miracles still happen. In a nutshell, I hope that’s what readers take away.
Some Fun Scenes
Courtenay: Which scene in this story was the most fun to write?
Katja: Oh, my, what a question! Let me think. I quite enjoyed writing the first chapter… I really want to write more court scenes with a bunch of nobles interacting. And almost every scene with Penuel was a blast to write. He was hands-down my favourite character to write. I also really like the proposal scene… it’s so adorable despite everything! And I had such fun writing all of chapter 14. Yeah, I don’t know if I can pick one scene that was the most fun to write, sorry!
Some Tough Scenes
Courtenay: Which scene was the most difficult to write?
Katja: Any scene where I had to explain the villains’ actions. (That’s what happens when you create a brilliant villain but are yourself neither brilliant nor a villain.) The climax scenes were particularly hard because I had to weave it all together and make it make sense. The tiger scene was also hard because I am not experienced with tigers, haha.
And the Ideal Reader!
Courtenay: If you could handpick an ideal reader for A Noble Comfort, what are three things that reader would be passionate about?
Katja: I love this question! Let’s see. They would be passionate about…
1. Justice, because a lot of the story revolves around trying to make things right.
2. History, because the book is based on many historical eras and truths.
3. Vintage (specifically Victorian) books, because I went full classic mode here.
Courtenay: Thanks so much for joining us today, Katja!
And thanks to all of you for joining us as well. If you haven’t taken a peek at A Noble Comfort already, you can do so right here:
You can also add the book to your shelves on Goodreads, Bookbub, Fable, and StoryGraph, or check out the mood board on Pinterest!
As always, I would love to hear your questions and thoughts. Just drop us a line in the comments section below!
Katja H. Labonté is a Christian, an extreme bibliophile who devours over 365 books in a year, and an exuberant writer with a talent for starting short stories that explode into book series. She is a bilingual French-Canadian and has about a dozen topics she’s excessively passionate about (hint: that’s why she writes). She spends her days enjoying little things, growing in faith, learning life, and loving people.