A dream about a cute boy sitting on the steps of the Panthéon made bookseller/librarian Stephanie Perkins realize her wish to become an author.

 

The first draft of her best-selling debut novel, “Anna and the French Kiss,” was pieced together during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and the dream about Anna’s love interest, Étienne St. Clair, which came to her a few weeks before the start of NaNoWriMo, felt like everything was fated.

 

“To borrow a word I use a lot in ‘Isla and the Happily Ever After,’ it felt like kismet, and it made that month really special because I knew I had something fresh and exciting,” says Stephanie.

 

Fate (and National Book Store) would also intervene later to bring her to Manila and Cebu to meet avid fans of her two novels, “Anna and the French Kiss” and “Lola and the Boy Next Door.”

 

“We were at a festival last year called Yallfest in Charleston, South Carolina, which isn’t too far from my home in North Carolina … and I met a very nice man named Miguel at a cocktail party,” recalls Stephanie. “I’m super awkward at cocktail parties, and I was looking for a quiet corner to escape and saw (author) Lev Grossman talking to a man.”

 

The man was Miguel Ramos of National Book Store, who was invited to Yallfest by author Margaret Stohl, who was also in Manila last year.

 

“Miguel said, ‘We’re hoping to get some authors to come to the Philippines, would you like to come?’ I thought it was just cocktail party conversation, but when I got home I actually had an invitation to come here,” Stephanie says with a laugh.

 

She adds, “It really blew my mind; I was not expecting it. Of course I had to say yes. When is this going to happen to me again? It was a chance encounter with a very nice and generous human being, it was cool.”

 

Inquirer Super sits down with Stephanie as she talks candidly about dealing with depression, owing her musician husband a great musician character in her future books, and why it’s important to follow your heart.

 

What wasn’t so great about your high school experience?

 

I was a really good student, but I never felt like I connected with my peers. I was never interested in the things they were interested in. When they went through that thing all teenagers do where they hate their parents and their teachers … I never really did that, so I always felt sorry for the adults around. I was always sympathizing with them rather than with my peers. I was shy and quiet and awkward  and nerdy. I had a couple of friends who were very close, but not many. I would eat lunch alone.

 

It was pretty sad. I went through a big period of depression in high school. It was something I’ve kind of always dealt with. The first time, I remember it, I was very young, in the third grade. But it really kicked in during high school, and it was something I had to deal with and get over and that was pretty rough.

 

When I talk to people who are like, “Oh, high school, those were the best years of my life!” I’m like, “Are you kidding?” or other people who say, “Oh, I wish I could trade places with a high-schooler again and go back to being a teenager,” I’m like, “That’s what nightmares are made of for me, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

 

I think it’s part of the reason why I’m still writing for them, (because) I feel such compassion for teenagers. I remember how hard it was; it’s really hard to be going through all that stuff and to be so close to being an adult, but still not having those capabilities of being able to take care of yourself or get away from a bad situation.

 

You’re still stuck but you’re kind of ready to move on—I still feel that so strongly, and whenever I meet my readers, I meet a lot of people who are kind of shy and bookish like myself and I just want to talk to them and say, “It’s gonna be better.”

 

What advice would you have for other people going through depression?

 

The thing about depression is that it shuts you down, and it makes it really hard to physically talk. You become really quiet and withdrawn, and it feels like such a burden and you feel ashamed of yourself, “Why can’t I snap out of this, why can’t I be like everyone else?”

 

The best thing you can do is to fight that instinct of keeping silent and to tell people what you’re going through, to tell friends, to tell medical professionals, and to seek out other people who are feeling the same way.

 

The thing that got me over this last bout as an adult was listening to other people’s stories, people I admired, other authors and musicians, and anyone in a creative field who had been through this, and listening to them talk about how it was a part of their lives, and to know they were still making great things happen.

 

That was a great comfort to me and that made me realize that I can make it work, too. So, I would encourage teens or anyone suffering through depression to talk about it, and to seek out other stories and look for those people who understand.

 

You finally visited Paris once “Anna…” was finished. What was the reality like?

 

I had the opportunity to stay there for a month. I always compare it to walking into Narnia because at that point I felt like I had created Paris (laughs), and I’d be like, “Oh, look at this amazing thing that I did, it’s just like the one I wrote about.”

 

It felt very personal in a silly way, but it felt like it came out of my imagination. It was the most backwards thing, it was special.

 

Musicians have gotten a bad rep in your books, and you’re sorry about it because your husband is a musician. How soon do you plan to make it up to him in another book?

 

I love musicians, I’ve actually only ever dated musicians, I just really, really like musicians, so I do feel terrible that I’ve written back-to-back crummy musicians. I’ll make it up someday, I just have to put a little distance between them (Toph and Max) and another musician. But the next time I write about one, he will be more positive. My husband just thinks it’s funny. My editor especially thinks it’s hilarious that I did that.

 

What type of guy do you envision Calliope with?

 

He would have to be someone highly intelligent. She’s very smart and determined. I don’t mean this in a creepy way, but it would have to be someone who has a bit of her brother’s personality, someone really accommodating and friendly because she’s so high-strung. Someone who has a pretty relaxed approach to life to balance her out and keep her sane.

 

What does your heart necklace say?

 

“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.” It’s a Kurt Vonnegut quote from “Slaughterhouse-Five.” It’s a quote I go back to again and again. Every time I go through depression, I think back on this phrase.

 

One of your characters on “Lola…” is Filipino.

 

When we lived there my husband was working at a bank, and all but one of his coworkers were Filipino and they were just so kind and friendly and I was thinking of them when I was writing it. Of course I have to have a Filipino character ’cause there are many Filipinos in San Francisco and they’re delightful. Maybe someday I’ll set something here.

 

Stephanie Perkins’ books are available at National Book Store. Catch her today at National Book Store SM Cebu or tomorrow at National Book Store Glorietta 1. Visit https://www.nationalbookstore.com.ph for more details and follow them on Twitter/Instagram: @nbsalert.