As we continue the year-long 10th Anniversary celebration of The Writing Barn, our dear friend and WB Success Story Jason June granted us the honor of an interview! Jason June is the author of various incredible picture books, chapter books and YA fiction! Some which include WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE, the MERMICORN ISLAND chapter book series, and his YA queer YA rom-coms JAY’S GAY AGENDA, NYT best-seller OUT OF THE BLUE, and his newest book RILEY WEAVER NEEDS A DATE TO THE GAYBUTANTE BALL!
Complete this sentence: My favorite line in the Writing Barn manifesto is__________ because…(and/or what it means to me/how it adds to my literary life).
We believe in industry transparency.” This is so, so, so important! It’s wild to me how much information is kept away from authors when it’s our books being published! For example, it is actually and definitionally criminal that I can’t look up right this second EXACTLY how many copies of my books have been sold. I have to hold out until twice a year when I’m given a report that can sometimes be wrong, and if it’s wrong, I have to take it upon myself to find a third party to look into it, etc. etc. etc. This isn’t to say any one person is terrible or that publishers are terrible or any of that. But it is to say that old traditions need to be updated and that authors need to be given just as much agency and power in the process as publishers. This includes getting contracts issued faster, having as few payment installations as possible and distributed as quickly as possible, giving references to prospective new agent clients so they can get a realistic take on an agent’s work style, etc. Let’s Norma Rae this!
I first came to The Writing Barn (when) and was expecting…(what). I continue to support The Writing Barn as a published author because…
I first came to The Writing Barn in 2014 expecting to learn helpful tips on how to write picture books. It baffled me how to tell a story in under 500 words without giving too much away that could be illustrated. The lessons helped me immensely! I continue to support The Writing Barn as a published author because I truly did get what The Writing Barn told me going in I could expect to get. There are no guarantees of getting published, obviously, but Bethany let me know what type of information and support I could get, and that’s exactly what I ended up with. I learned the ins and outs of publishing, I learned helpful tips and was given great writing time and prompts that made me a stronger writer, and it means a lot to me that The Writing Barn was created by an author herself who wants as many people as possible to become authors with her. I share that goal with Bethany and can see how much of her blood, sweat, heart, and tears she puts into making sure dreams come true.
How has publishing changed (as you moved from pre-agented or pre-published author) and your experience changed in the 10 years The Writing Barn has been around?
I’ve loved seeing the change in what publishing “allows” authors to write. Of course, they can’t stop you from sitting at the keyboard and writing whatever you want. But there did used to be this idea that if you write (insert specific genre and age category here) you can only write that for the rest of your career. Now, it’s so common for authors to jump genres and age groups, and I love that. I don’t know what took folks so long. For example, A-list actors have been voicing family films one second then baring it all in Rated R movies the next and we support that sort of artistic fluidity. Or we’ll watch them kill every other character in a movie one season, then clap as they star as Santa’s sidekick when the holidays roll around. Authors deserve and should have this same sort of ability to jump between voices, audiences, humanity explorations, etc., and it’s nice to see more publishers supporting that.
The Writing Barn is known for its craft classes. What do you think makes the Writing Barn programming special? If you teach with us, what does it mean to you to support writers who were once deep in craft studies, as you were (and are–we writers are always learning.)
I think the craft classes are so special because they’re taught by authors who are active writers, so they’re giving tips and tricks that they themselves use. Not to mention that The Writing Barn has many, many, many teachers, so there’s not this idea that “this is the one way to do it.” Writers have such varied personalities that of course it means there will never be a “one trick or track fits all” to writing and getting published, so having different teachers come in and having a regular rotation of faculty makes it so that you’re exposed to as many different modes of thinking of possible. Diversity of thought is so important when figuring out what type of writing works best for you, and allows you to pull little bits from all sorts of lessons that resonate with you as opposed to only getting one viewpoint.
Lots of your manuscripts are now BOOKS! Which ones did you work on in any of our programming or intensives?
My very first picture book, WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE (written under my old name and illustrated by Jess Pauwels), came about in that first Writing Barn intensive I ever attended back in 2014. PORCUPINE CUPID (illustrated by Lori Richmond) was also workshopped at a later WB event. Learning about picture book beats at The Writing Barn really helped me shape these up to becoming the books they are today.
My favorite funny memory of The Writing Barn is…and any favorite or memorable interactions with Bethany or current or prior staff you’d like to share?
My favorite memories are always where fellow classmates and then later students from classes I taught get their first book deal. We watch each other work so hard to achieve this dream and when you see it happen, it’s just MAGIC! Basically any win from a fellow WB-er is like AH! This is so cool!
If I could grant the Writing Barn a 10 birthday gift for reaching a DECADE of serving writers, I would give the Barn:
A publishing imprint! Not to put more work on y’all’s plate, but you get such talented writers through your doors that I know the books you’d be able to publish would be fantastic!
What do you wish for the Writing Barn and all the writers who will study with us in the next 10 years?
That you all continue to find your community. That’s one of the best parts about the Barn for me. So many of the writers who were taking classes with me in 2014 are now trusted critique group members or amazing friends or now basically sisters. I hope everybody who studies there finds that, and I know that Bethany and the whole WB team will try their darnedest to provide it.
We want to send a sincere thank you to our friend Jason June for joining us in this milestone celebration. We are so grateful we’ve been able to contribute to his writing journey! Cheers to 10 more years, and to Jason for his amazing work.
About Author Jason June
Jason June (it’s a two-name first name, like Mary-Kate without the hyphen or the Olsen twin) is a New York Times best-selling author who loves to create picture books that mix the flamboyantly whacky with the slightly dark, and young adult contemporary rom-coms full of love and lust and hijinks.
When not writing, JJ zips about Austin, Texas. He loves dinosaurs, unicorns, Pomeranians, and anything magical that takes you to a different world or time. JJ is a tried and true Laura Dern stan, and he is actively looking for an Andalite friend.
His picture books include WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE, illustrated by Jess Pauwels, and PORCUPINE CUPID, a queer-inclusive Valentine’s Day story, illustrated by Lori Richmond, both from Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster. For under-the-sea whimsical adventures, check out the MERMICORN ISLAND chapter book series from Scholastic! For YA queer YA rom-coms, check out JAY’S GAY AGENDA and the finstant NYT best-seller OUT OF THE BLUE, both from HarperTeen!