Author Valeriya Goffe is joining us today for an interview. Her latest novel, Secrets We Keep, is sure to appeal to women’s fiction readers
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Title: Secrets We Keep
Author: Valeriya Goffe
Genre: Women’s Fiction
BLURB:
A rising star that fell…
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 her 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?
INTERVIEW:
Welcome! It is my pleasure to feature your latest release.
Do ideas for plot or characters appear first?
Usually I start with a very broad plot, then I try to develop various scenes, and finally I start developing the characters. Developing characters takes the most of the time for me. In some cases, I have some sort of a “prototype” for the character, in others, I need to combine several people into one, and this takes more time. However, as the book progresses, some of the characters turn out quite different from the way I imagined them in the beginning. They take a life of their own.
Have you ever traveled when researching information for a book?
My debut novel is solely based on my travels. All the scenes in this book take place in locations which are very dear to my heart, for one reason or the other. I enjoy writing about the places I had visited in the past as this helps me relive the happy memories, as well as share them with the readers. May be one day they’d want to visit them too!
The majority of scenes are set in Kyiv, my beloved home town where I was born and raised, and Washington DC, where I had lived for almost 20 years (until starting a posting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last summer).
I also write about Tanzania, an incredible African country which I had fallen in love with. I had been there many times for work and I got to know a lot of wonderful people there. It was only natural for me to pick Tanzania as the setting for my novel.
Jekyll Island, another important location for my debut novel, is where I’ve been vacationing with my family for many years. It’s a gorgeous island off the coast of Georgia where one can enjoy the beach and various outdoor activities and also learn a lot about history. Back in the late 1800s James Hill, George Baker, William Rockefeller, William Vanderbilt, and some of their powerful contemporaries selected Jekyll Island as a perfect place to spend their winters. The exquisite Jekyll Island Club was constructed there. Its clientele controlled an enormous one-sixth of the world’s worth! Given my fascination with this island, it was impossible for me not to include it in my first book.
When did you begin writing?
I started writing when I was in middle school. Back then, I was writing in Russian and Ukrainian. I had always enjoyed writing and illustrating all kinds of stories and articles. I also had an older cousin who shared my passion for writing. We co-authored quite a few children’s’ books, but never published them unfortunately. All these books are lost forever, as none of them were typed on a computer, and I have no idea what happened to them after all these years. Later, my life got consumed by university studies and eventually work. I focused on writing academic articles and reports in economics and finance. Then one day I thought it was time to start writing fiction again. This time, I decided that I will write in English and get my novel published. I’m glad it’s finally happening.
How many hours do you dedicate each day towards writing?
Generally speaking, with my full-time day job, I cannot devote too much time to writing. My goal is to write one page a day, which doesn’t take very long, but helps me to move in the right direction. However, on some days, I will deviate from the goal. Sometimes, I might get a lot of inspiration (no idea where it comes from!) and will write 10 pages or so. On other days, I will just put a few paragraphs down, and this will be it.
I try to make sure not to push myself too much and have fun with the writing. If I have ideas, I will try to put them down immediately. If no great ideas come to mind, I don’t stress out. It’s better to take a break that day and wait for another.
What does literary success mean to you?
Many different things! Thousands of readers excited about my books…Writing as a full-time career…A Hollywood movie based on my book…No sure if they are achievable, but I think every writer dreams about them. Never hurts to dream!
What project are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on the sequel to the Secrets We Keep. From the start, I envisioned to write a trilogy about a Ukrainian family, so my hope is to publish two more books in order to finish the story.
The idea of the trilogy came from reading Kevin Kwan’s books. I am a big fan of Crazy Rich Asians. At one point, I thought that it would be really cool to have a trilogy about Ukraine similar to the way Kwan wrote about Singapore and China. Naturally, my characters are very different from Kwan’s characters, and they face a very different kind of problems (nobody is crazy rich, that’s for sure). But I hope the readers will also fall in love with the Ukrainian family I portray in my books.
The plot of my second book greatly evolved from what I originally planned to write it about. It sort of got overtaken by events.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, I knew that I needed to stage my second book in Ukraine during the war. There was no other way. I had so much pain in my heart that I needed a way to let it out, and writing was a perfect opportunity for me. I started writing the sequel last year, and I already have it almost finished. It was not an easy book to write, given the real emotions involved. Some scenes were heartbreaking for me as I knew that this was not fiction and my friends and relatives were experiencing similar moments in real life. Luckily, I am already editing the book now, and I know that most of my characters have survived, and they finally see the light in the end of the tunnel.
AUTHOR BIO:
Valeriya Goffe was born and raised in Ukraine and spent most of her adult life in the USA. She works for a large international organization leading developmental projects in various countries. During her career, she has traveled extensively in Africa, Middle East, Europe, and Asia. She hold a PhD degree in finance from the Kyiv National University of Economics in Ukraine and an MBA degree from Kogod School of Business, American University in Washington DC. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder. Valeriya is trilingual in English, Russian, Ukrainian and also speaks French and Spanish.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Jill Piscitello 
Nice learning more about you. Glad I’m not the only one whose characters take on lives of their own. Happy sales!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your book sounds like a great read! I hope your family and friends are staying as safe as they can.
LikeLiked by 1 person