Author Interview: Julian Winters

Last day of Pride, but not the last interview!! We will be back with those in the weeks to come!

Today though, as always, we have an interview that both Charlotte and me are super excited about! We got a chance to talk with Julian just days before the first arcs of his upcoming book – How To Be Remy Cameron – became available for readers. (It comes out on September 10th & you definitely want to pre-order a copy already!)

We chatted about different ways of channeling your artistic energy, the spaces we still need to fill with LGBT characters, and how important it is to just be yourself.

Have fun reading!!

Thank you again for agreeing to talk with us, Julian!

No, thank you. I’m honored!

I have to say, you were one of the authors I was most excited about getting to chat with! I’ve been following you since before your first book came out and you were always just so nice to everyone in the community! So this truly means a lot.

Aww thank you! I’ve always believed in one thing: “Treat others how you want them to treat you.” I think we all have enough bad things in the world that we need some positivity too!

That attitude really shines through everything we see from you! So, okay, let’s start at the beginning. How did you first get into writing?

I kind of fell into it? I never considered myself a writer; just sort of a creative spirit. I loved to play Pretend growing up and things like that. But when I didn’t have any friends around, I need somewhere else to channel that creative energy. So I’d take the stories in my head that I couldn’t act out and write them. And let me tell you — my early writing was a disaster and a half!

We all have to start somewhere, right? But also we don’t talk a lot about writing as just a different kind of story-telling that you can’t express otherwise, which is such a cool point of view!

Exactly. I don’t think most people realize that they’re truly writers. It’s not always in the written word process. Most times it’s the stories you’re developing in your own head.

Like we’d say that an author has a movie playing in their head that they’re putting on paper but that’s it. And there’s really more to writing than just writing down words!

Yes! I always write the ideas that start to form like movies in my head. It’s the coolest thing.

A little bit like magic. So what are your favourite genres to read and write, anyway? Can we ever expect actual magic from your books?

I’m all over the place when it comes to genre. If it’s queer, I’m there! But I love a good contemporary. I run to any kind of RomCom. When it comes to writing, I’ll probably usually stick to contemporary because it’s where I’m most comfortable. I’d love to write a superhero book one day. As far as magic, the closest I’d get would be a superhero book. I definitely don’t think I have the world building skills to pull off a fantasy novel!

Haha, I’m the same with my reading – give me LGBT characters and I’m sold! Oh my god, I would LOVE to see a superhero book from you!

Yeah, it would be cool (and challenging) to pull off a superhero book. I just don’t think there are enough out there and I’d love to contribute.

I just put together a rec list of some LGBT superheroes books, if you’re interested, but you’re totally right! We do not have enough of that. So on the other end of the spectrum: are there any genres or tropes you wouldn’t write?

Yeah, I was trying to put together a list for a friend of mine a few months ago and… there just weren’t that many LGBTQ+ superhero books. At all. It was a shame. I don’t think I could ever write horror. Or mystery/thriller. Or historical. I’m usually open-minded when it comes to tropes. I’d never write anything that ends unhappily or with a major character death.

As someone who can’t even really read horror, I can totally understand that. That’s actually very good to know! Not saying that characters dying is a bad thing, it’s not, but sometimes you just need that certainty that everything will be alright.

Yes, everything will always be perfectly fine in one of my books!

How would you say you get inspiration for your books, though?

It comes from various places but mainly it’s the things I don’t see or haven’t seen enough of: equality, representation, kindness, a happy ending for LGBTQ people, normalcy for people of color, a person trying to casually flirt and failing epically… it kind of comes from all ends of the spectrum.

We’re as community are just really bad at flirting, aren’t we.

HORRIBLE!

Gotta be known for something… I’m listening to music right now, but how about you. Do you have a writing playlist? And if you do, does it focus more on the lyrics or melodies, vibe of the songs?

Oh, I can’t write without a playlist. I have to have one for every book or project. I typically go with the vibe of a song. Sometimes the lyrical content is important but I’ve written a lot of great scenes to music that lyrically didn’t fit that moment. It was more about the melody or the vibe.

So the words don’t bother you at all, then? Don’t throw you off the rhythm?

Nope. It’s more about the music taking me to another place.

I like that. Just another bit of magic to help you along. How about the rest of your writing process? At what point do you let other people read your drafts and who are they?

I’m so bad at letting other people read my drafts. Like, so bad. I usually wait until I’ve finished a draft and edited it at least once before I show anyone. Sometimes I’ll hire a beta reader to read it — someone I don’t know at all. That way, if it sucks, I know they’ll be honest and they’re just doing their job. If I do let any close friends read it, it’s typically author friends, but I’m always so scared to do that. There’s this whole “I don’t want them to think differently of me” mental game that I think all authors go through.

Yeah, it only makes sense, given how much of your heart you pour into the book? Not to mention all the hard work it involves.

Exactly.

It’s a scary thing to put out in the world & most of all people you actually know.

It is! But it would be unfair of me not to say any creative person, whether writing or art or music, you have to find that place where you do finally share your work. Otherwise you never get to the part where you see how many people LOVE what you do.

Otherwise you just keep thinking it’s not good enough when that’s not even true anyway! For a lighter note, now, though. Summarise your most recent or your next book in up to 5 words and a meme.

Oh wow. Okay I suck at memes. But 5 words for How To Be Remy Cameron: You are not your labels.

That’s my fair attempt at a meme for Remy.

That’s amazing, I love that! Which three authors would you say influenced your writing the most?

Becky Albertalli. Benjamin Alire Sáenz. David Levithan.

You can definitely feel that tenderness and safety of their books in yours!

Yes. That’s what I love about them. They write with such great emotion but also it feels like coming home in their books. Like I’m always safe and warm… with a side of tears.

Exactly! So keeping this vibe in mind, if (when!) either of your books were to be made into movies, who would you like to direct them?

I love what Greg Berlanti did with Love, Simon! He’d be my go-to for Running With Lions, especially since he’s married to former soccer player Robbie Rogers. I’d also love to see Lee Daniels take on How To Be Remy Cameron, if he’d want to do a lighter film. Ava DuVernay would be a dream too.

It would be so cool to see Lee Daniels’ take on a rom-com for teens! You mentioned either gay or black directors (or both)… So what does ownvoices LGBT representation mean to you?

It means so much to me. I think we have room for a lot of people to tell so many stories, but for so long, we’ve been without the access for ownvoices LGBTQ authors to tell their OWN stories. From our own experiences. There is something woven into those words when it comes from someone who has lived that life. The good times, the bad times, the uncomfortable times, and the times where we were overwhelmed with how magical it has been to just be us. And I’d love to see more of it. I’d love to do anything in my power to open more doors for those stories to be told.

There’s so much to our experience that’s just hard to even imagine to an outsider, right?

Yes. Not that there haven’t been good books by other people but that heartbeat you can feel from an ownvoices author? It’s nearly impossible to replicate.

Despite how well a book is written, it will never ring as true as when it comes from an ownvoices author.

True.

I feel like we just see the world from a slightly different angle? With that we had and still have to struggle with, we just focus and appreciate different things. And it shows in the writing. And the lack of it from cishet authors shows as well.

I definitely think people try to capture as best they can, but the soul of it; the what makes it feel bone-deep real, takes experience. It takes living it for more than just a moment. And that goes to say for any ownvoices writing.

Yeah. Some things you simply can’t research. So you already mentioned some amazing authors (and we encourage everyone to check them out!). But rec us some more great LGBT books you’ve read recently! One can just never have enough recommendations!

Oh gosh, so many great ones! Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan. Death Prefers Blondes by Caleb Roehrig. Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson. Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy. The Music Of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg. How (Not) To Ask A Boy To Prom by S.J. Goslee. I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver. The Gravity Of Us (releases 4th February 2020) by Phil Stamper. I’m finishing up this amazing Adult novel, Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. My next read is Alex In Wonderland by Simon James Green and I can’t wait!

We’re actually doing a buddy read on the blog for I Wish You All The Best during pride month! I’m excited to see you loved it!

It’s so good. So damn good!

Honestly, your recs are so good! It’s amazing how many good (!) LGBT books we’re getting lately. That’s what we deserve.

We are and quite a few on the way too! I’m excited about the things that are happening.

So in retrospect, what’s one piece of advice you would like to give your younger self?

Be you, always. I spent a lot of time being whatever made everyone else comfortable and that, in part, made me a stranger to myself. I’d also tell myself that dream you have of being a writer? Go after it sooner. I think everything happens for a reason but that time I spent thinking I wasn’t good enough took a long time to shake off.

Honestly, I would say that’s a thought that’s visible in Running With Lions, as well.

Thank you. I definitely tried to convey that message and I think people will see even more of that with How To Be Remy Cameron.

I’m really excited about your new book, not gonna lie! So that’s great to hear! And one last question: if you could have dinner with one member of the LGBT community, dead or alive, who would it be?

That is too hard! Too hard! I’ll have to really think about this one.

There are too many great options, right!

The first person that comes to mind is Frank Ocean. I’d love to chat with him, as a Black queer male, and just talk about the things we face in our community and in general. And the ways we process that into creative outlets. Plus I love his music and would love to know his thought process while crafting songs.

Oh, that’s such a solid choice! Who wouldn’t like to chat with Ocean, honestly!

I mean, honestly.

And who knows, maybe one day!

Yes! Dreams do become realities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julian Winters is a former management trainer who lives in the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia and has been crafting fiction since he was a child, creating communities around his hand-drawn “paper people.” He began writing LGBTQ character-driven stories as a teen and developed a devoted fan fiction following. When he isn’t writing or using his sense of humor to entertain his young nephews, Julian enjoys reading, experimental cooking in the kitchen, and watching the only sports he can keep up with: volleyball and soccer. Running with Lions is his first novel.

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