This May, we're putting the spotlight on katfeatherly! Her book was a recent pick for our Story of the Month, and if you're a fan of enemies to lovers, you should definitely check her out!

1. Tell us about yourself and your soon-to-be-published story Two Weeks to Fall in Love!

I'm Kat and I was born and raised in Croatia, which is a small European country. My book will touch American soil before I ever do -- don't know if that's cool or sad but I'm sticking to cool! I'm a technical writer by day and a procrastinator by night. 95% of the time you will find me wearing mismatched socks. (No, I did not go around freeing house elves.) I have a sock thief who masquerades as a dog. I don't know what possessed me to name her Eleven (yes, I do: it was Stranger Things and silliness) but she has never in her life reacted to that name and goes by Ellie. She's my entire heart. I love writing in different genres, the only constant that will always stretch across any book I write is romance. I am incapable of writing something without romance.

Two Weeks to Fall in Love is a book that, while it is light in its nature, it carries a lot of heavy significance for me. I don't want to give spoilers, but I went through what Noah is struggling with in the book. And so this book is sort of a love letter for... well, you'll have to read it and see! If you get the soon-to-be-published version of the book, I explain it all in the acknowledgments section of the book since it is at the end of the book, and thus I can no longer spoil anything. :)

2. What made you start writing on Wattpad?

Pettiness — I know how it sounds, but hear me out. I was working at a narrative design company which for a gal that lived to read and was constantly scribbling something (never a full book though!) that was like, as close to a dream job as I could get in my country. Apparently, my dose of bubbly enthusiasm wasn't actually what my mentor (and unofficial boss) ordered so she seemed to dislike me from the start, and I endured what is technically mobbing. Just a few examples: she said I went to the bathroom too much and should count my time there and deduct it from lunch; she made a colleague from my team write down every time I stood up from my desk and report to her weekly; when I asked for advice or opinions on my writing, she said it all looked good then turned around at the HR meeting and said everything I did was bad and wasn't performing.

Anyway, a few months of this, I was (surprise, surprise) fired, as she smugly stated, "You're just not good at this." (hinting at writing). I thought to myself, eff that! We hired writers from Wattpad for the games occasionally, which was how I found out about the platform. I joined the site and posted the first chapter of my first book, the pettiness inside me wanting to prove her wrong. I'd been writing my whole life - who was she to tell me I wasn't good at this? So yeah, it was pettiness!

And now I have the second book I wrote - Two Weeks to Fall in Love - being published in the USA, so I guess I'm grateful she was such a hateful person and I'm so stubborn. :)

3. What challenges did you face when writing Two Weeks to Fall in Love? Or with writing humor in general?

My first concern, or struggle, was that I had never before written YA fiction, and I wasn't sure I could do it well. I wanted the book to be something teens can enjoy and relate but also something that an adult can read and enjoy without feeling the characters are too "childish". Then the other struggle was pushing through the middle of the book - I'm always on a writing high when it comes to the first and last part of the book, but somehow I always have to kind of push myself to keep going at the middle part.

When it comes to humor... it comes kind of naturally to me, I guess. I'm not like some comedic genius, but I was raised on the 2000s rom-coms, which in my totally non-biased opinion was the highlight for romantic comedies. So when I write, I kind of automatically see it as a rom-com playing in my head so certain situations just feel like the right place for some light laughs. I think it's best to stick to what feels natural to you than to try and force humor into places.

4. Humor is hugely subjective. What makes something funny for you?

Ah, I'm very easy-going. I find everything funny - from dad jokes to dark humor. I try not to take life too seriously in general. I've been through a lot in life so far, and without being able to laugh about some of the more tragic things, it would be so much harder to go though every day.

I think the main thing that will make something funny for me is how the humor is delivered. You can sense in a tone when someone is lightheartedly joking (about themselves or others) and when they're using humor to mask insults.

I'll never laugh at a joke delivered with malice.

5. What do you think makes romance work so well with comedy? Especially the enemies-to-lovers trope?

Because people are soooo awkward. Particularly when it comes to romance and especially when it's teenagers. Gosh, the amount of times I referred to myself as an "awkward turtle" as a teen should have had me banned from life.

But yeah, I think romance in itself is so messy it creates an excellent space for humor to shine. And that feeling is so widely relatable that most everyone enjoys a good rom-com. Enemies to lovers works really well because they dislike each other but are put in a position where they can't usually be open about it. Fake dating is the same - lots of openings for embarrassingly funny situations. While they're not technically fake dating in my book, they're actual boyfriend/girlfriend, but since Skyler really dislikes Noah it makes it even funnier that she's now dating him.

6. Are there any particular challenges you face when switching genres and ensuring there's still lots of humor no matter which genre you write?

So far - no! I've written 2 contemporary books, which is where romance and humor kind of naturally live. But I also dabbled into apocalypse/dystopia with a YA zombie book - but it's a whole lot of humor and not as much gore. I had a lot of fun with that novella, I'm currently adding a bit more details to extend it into a novel.

I think my recipe for humor comes from the characters as the narrator. They're usually funny in some way so the story has humor from their perspective.

7. What are your favorite tropes to use and see in media?

I love anything that will give me angst. So enemies to lovers, rivals to lovers, fake dating, arranged marriage, etc. I like the longing and when the chartacters don't know if they feel the same and pine for each other. That's also probably why I'm not a big fan of friends to lovers, despite that being the most realistic trope.

8. What are your favourite comedies? And have they inspired you?

There's no way I can name them all. But I'll name a few that definitely inspired the feeling behind Two Weeks to Fall in Love. 

10 Things I Hate About You, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, 13 Going on 30 (this was actually the theme for my 30th birthday), Legally Blonde - just to name a few off the top of my head.

9. If one of your books were turned into a movie, which actors/actresses would you want to see cast?

Ah, I don't like saying that. I know some authors can't wait to tell you who they imagined but I don't really have preferences for my characters. I initially avoided describing the characters too much - I described Noah's eyes, hair, and height because as the love interest, I felt like I had to, but I tried to avoid other descriptors.

When I was growing up in Croatia, every main character in every book I read was blonde and blue-eyed (I think it was trendy back then). I hated it as a teen - I felt like being brown-haired and hazel-eyed, I would never have the same good things happen to me because I didn't look like those girls in the books. And that's just based on hair/eyes. In the published version, I had to add a bit more descriptors as it's not really natural to not have that in books, PLUS they had to put them on the cover. So technically now there is the official cover look for the two leads.

I know it's not typical, but I would just love for people to imagine the main characters however they like, especially Skyler as the lead. Whatever hair, eye, skin color, height, body shape, or anything else you want for them is the correct look!

So basically, should this ever be a movie, I would be happy with whoever is cast.

10. Does the humor in your stories come naturally or is there a process to it?

Definitely naturally. When I write, the plot sort of play like a movie in my head, so I think it's the conditioning from 2 decades of rom-coms at this point, because it just happens without thinking. I usually don't even know what will happen until the characters "make me write it" which is fun because I often make myself laugh with something I wrote as well. It's pretty fun.

11. How do you manage to write characters as snarky and funny without making them unlikable?

The eternal struggle. If you look at my first book, that's exactly what I struggled with. I wanted to make my character kind of darkly sarcastic, but the impression she left on others was more that she's a witch with a capital B. I think where I failed with this was that she was rude to the male character who people liked, especially when he was being fun and kind in the book. In my head, I knew what she went through with him before the plot of the book starts so her horribly negative outlook on him and behavior was justified. However, the readers don't know that. All they see is her being rude to a guy that's nice to her.

In my second book, I think I did better with that, but I also sometimes stumbled. The problem is when I know how I want the joke to land, but it gets taken a completely different way. Revisions are your friend and humor can be a hit and miss. Wattpad is great for that - readers don't hesitate to tell you exactly what they think about a certain character or a certain line, and I definitely took all of that to heart when editing.

I think the trick is to make the character overall do good things and have good behaviour despite being snarky or sarcastic.

12. Do you have a joke or funny scene that you're particularly proud of writing?

Can't say I do, actually! I think my favorite is Skyler and Noah's banter. It was so natural writing it and I had a permanent smile on my face during most scenes. I did really enjoy the scene in (I think chapter 3) when Melissa and Skyler and talking at the lunch table in school and Mel sees Noah approaching them. That whole lunch scene was very fun to write.

13. What is your advice for new writers incorporating humor into their stories?

Don't force it. There is no rule that says you have to make people laugh every X pages. Wait for moments that feel naturally funny to you, situations where you can just imagine something ridiculous happening. When creating your character, if you want a humorous undertone and they're a first-person narrator, decide on the kind of funny you will give them. Will it be sarcastic commentary? Will they be smart but completely clueless about social matters? Will they be bubbly and cracking jokes all the time?

The first trick is to think of the character and their preferred type of humor and how they view life, and then the places where you can weave in humor will come naturally.

14. Finally, what can readers expect from your upcoming works, and what are you most excited about in your future writing career?

Oh gosh. I'm sure excited to get to hold Two Weeks to Fall in Love as a physical book in my hands. It still feels surreal so maybe it will finally sink in then... I definitely have material enough to write two more books for Noah and Skyler, but I think when (or if) they will be written depends on how the book does once it hits the shelves. I can't really justify the time it will take to write two more books if there's not enough interest. Especially when I have like 20 book ideas waiting on retainer.

The one I'm currently working on is a romantasy trilogy - and this will definitely be a trilogy because that's how I envisioned it. It's AU Romeo and Juliet where they hate each other but are forced into an engagement. The plot is set in a fantasy world built with Slavic lore or rather, old pagan Slavic Gods. I really wanted to bring my culture into my writing because it's rarely shown in media so obviously I'm very excited about that. Here's a (working) logline for the new book called Suncrossed:

"When rebels strike during their engagement celebration, a Moon heiress with tainted magic and a ruthless Sun prince raised for war, are forced into a reluctant alliance -- one that unearths ancient magic, buried lies, and a secret that could either save their dying world... or end it."

Thank you, Kat, for giving us your time and wisdom. Good on you for persisting, and we're excited to see Two Weeks to Fall in Love in stores!

Check out all of her stories over on katfeatherly, and read our review of her winning story HERE.