Takeover episode! Emma and Annabelle interview Jason about Scar Dakota

Jason takes the hot seat on his own podcast! Join us as Jason's beta readers and good pals Emma Wierschke and Annabelle White ask him questions about his new middle-grade novel Scar Dakota and its journey to bookstores.

Jason opens up about writing, what he learned from the Zoom beta reading group, and all three share their favorite scenes and characters. You'll absolutely love these two spunky hosts!

Buy Scar Dakota:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTJ6TMDX

Learn more about Jason:
http://www.jasonfwright.com

Watch trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnaUQSX9cfE


About the book:
Shane Dakota's world is falling to pieces. He's just moved over Christmas break from North Carolina to the very strange mountain land of Utah. Suddenly Shane's grandparents are raising him and he's spending way too much time teaching his grandpa about Netflix while learning more than any seventh grader ever should about pickleball.

But even Shane knows those aren't his biggest problems. His mother, a member of the National Guard, has just passed away and Shane is struggling with the truth. Plus when the holiday break ends, Shane has to walk into a huge new school with a story, a secret, and a fresh scar on his right cheek.

Shane tries to fit in, but he can't stop thinking about his mother, wondering about a father he's never even met, and remembering the bizarre accident in North Carolina that sent his world spinning. Just when it all feels upside down, Shane makes friends with his new neighbors Kabir, Ink, and a crew of almost-famous YouTubers. Shane even scores a new nickname - Scar - and he actually likes it!

But just as Scar finally finds his place, he betrays a friend and receives a mysterious text message that threatens to expose his secret. Can Scar face the truth about friendship and his family in front of the entire seventh grade on the biggest stage he's ever seen? Will he learn lessons about the power of religious and cultural diversity in time?

More than anything, Scar must learn that everyone has scars, and if we choose, they have power to become beautiful.

This podcast is brought to you by InkVeins, your source for book publicity, promo, press releases and more. Text 540-212-4095 for more information.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Hello world. Welcome to this special takeover of Book Drop. Mike. This is Emma Wierschke, coming to you from Washington State, and my co-host today is Annabelle White. Hello from New Jersey.

Speaker 2 0:14

Is this where I get to say hello?

Speaker 1 0:16

We'll get to you. Annabelle, do you want to tell everyone why we're doing a takeover episode?

Speaker 3 0:20

Well, it'll be kind of hard for Jason to interview himself about his books. So we are his two writing partners and we're going to ask him about his new book, Scar Dakota.

Speaker 2 0:33

I like that. All right Now. I assume I now get to say hello.

Speaker 1 0:37

Almost. So, like Annabelle said, we're taking over the book drop mic today to interview Jason about Scar Dakota, his new middle grade book that he shared with about 50 kids like us last year, right.

Speaker 3 0:51

So, as Jason was writing the book, he would have these Zooms, and kids from all over would join in and listen to him read the chapters, and then he'd give feedback.

Speaker 1 0:59

And finally the book is out and Annabelle and I are on the back cover. And finally, the book is out and Annabelle and I are on the back cover. Okay, now you can say hello.

Speaker 2 1:06

Thank you, hello, hello, you are both on the back cover, which was one of my favorite little surprises that you I don't think either one of you knew that your names were going to be on the back cover, did you?

Speaker 3 1:19

No.

Speaker 2 1:20

Yeah, pretty awesome. Your moms are super secret keepers and so I worked with them and we put your little endorsements on the back of the book. That was super fun. Thank you for taking over my podcast. It's kind of strange to be the guest on a podcast that I normally host that's now being hosted by two people whose combined age is 22. Let's have some fun.

Speaker 1 1:48

Let's dive into the questions. So, like you ask all of your guests, jason, you have to tell us about yourself first before you talk about the book.

Speaker 2 1:58

I was really hoping I would just get to talk about the book. Yeah, that's a very fair point and that is how the show works. I always ask guests to tell a little bit about themselves first, and then the book, and then what's coming next. So I guess following format makes sense. So I'm a writer. Newsflash big secret.

Speaker 2 2:16

I'm a writer and I live in Woodstock, virginia, which is a little town about an hour and a half-ish west of Washington DC. We're in the Shenandoah Valley, which is we're kind of in the northwest corner of Virginia and I love it out here. I'm looking out my window as I do this interview at Main Street here in our little town, and it's a really nice, cozy place to write books. So we have lived here a long time. Let's see, my youngest is 17 and we moved here a couple months after he was born. So we've been here about 17 years and um, I write and I travel and talk about my books and, as you two know, because we've been working on um projects together and I'm sure we'll talk about that later on but I have said many times that I really write books so that I can meet people, like the books are kind of an excuse to get into schools and to book clubs and libraries and and corporate events, just to have an opportunity to sort of meet people and to hear their story.

Speaker 2 3:22

So as much as I love telling stories I've always kind of been a storyteller I really, really like hearing other people's stories. I think everyone has a story to tell and so I love meeting people and getting to know them and and it has been loads and loads of fun getting to know the two of you over this last year.

Speaker 3 3:41

Now what we're all actually here for. Tell us about your new book.

Speaker 2 3:44

What was?

Speaker 3 3:45

it.

Speaker 2 3:47

I think it's called Scar Dakota. Is that the one we're talking about today? I?

Speaker 3 3:50

don't know. Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 2 3:52

Yeah, scar Dakota, yeah, that's a good topic. Well, you two ladies probably can answer this question better than I can. That's why we're that's. I mean, that's why we're on this podcast, because the two of you were so fortunate to be a part of my little beta reading group. I was fortunate to have the two of you and those other 50 or so kids that were a part of that group.

Speaker 2 4:13

So, as you know, this was my first middle grade book. I'd written a lot of adult contemporary novels, we would call them, and I know your wonderful parents have been readers your mom's in particular of my books through the years, but I'd never written anything for readers your age. And so I sort of came up with this idea. I wanted to tell a story about a seventh grader in particular who went through a tough seventh grade experience. Because I went through a pretty tough seventh grade year as well and while in my real life when I was in the seventh grade, my experiences weren't quite like my main character, scar Scar Dakota, I do feel like some of the things that my main character experiences emotionally and just sort of socially they kind of link up with some of the things I went through. So Scar Dakota was kind of. I don't know a way for me to dive back into middle school a little bit and to revisit some of that. It's just a weird time, right. Middle school can be a really tough time actually for a lot of people.

Speaker 2 5:26

So the book is about a young man who loses his mom that's not a real spoiler, because it happens right before the book opens actually and he lives in North Carolina and he's kind of alone in the world. So now he's going to move all the way across the country to a place called Highland, utah, and he's going to be raised by his grandparents, who he kind of knows from visits through the years. But this is really a new family for him, new city, new family, new house, new school, new everything and new friends. And so when the book really gets going, he's arrived in Utah and it's January, february and over the next several months our lead character is going to make some friends, learn a little bit about friendship and honesty.

Speaker 2 6:14

And one of my favorite ways to describe the book is that it's about a boy with a story, a secret and a scar, and I just like the way that. I like the way that sounds, because that really does sum up, I think, what, um, what scar kind of goes through, and and maybe maybe the two of you can kind of relate to some of those experiences, I don't know, uh, annabelle, what do you? If you had to answer that question, annabelle, what the book is about, uh, what would you say?

Speaker 3 6:44

I would say that it's about a boy moving and basically starting his life all over again different place, with different people and having to learn a lot of lessons about growing up not just in general, but also growing up like as the person that he is.

Speaker 2 7:11

Mm, that's good. I love that. The idea of starting your life all over again. I had not thought of it that way before. That's a really brilliant way to describe what Scar goes through. By the way, for those listening who don't know, his name is Shane. In the book, his name is Shane Dakota, but pretty quickly he picks up this name, scar, this nickname, so that's why you'll hear it. What about you, emma? If you had 10 seconds to describe what the book is about to a friend, what would you say?

Speaker 1 7:37

I would go with the exact same thing Annabelle said, but I would also add that he doesn't only learn how to grow up for who he is also, but he also learns that everyone has scars and everyone has things that they could either choose to be ashamed of, learn from or just act on them. And so that's, yeah, what I think too.

The Zoom Beta Reading Group

Speaker 2 8:02

So I was chatting with a newspaper reporter actually today and we talked a little bit about our little Zoom group. I bet some of our regular listeners to the show might not really understand what that looked like and we sort of glossed over that. So, emma, why don't you take a shot at kind of describing what was this? We keep referring to this beta reading opportunity that we did together. What was that like?

Speaker 1 8:28

It was really cool being able to like know that I was like listening to you read a book that no one has ever heard before, and, uh, it was also like really cool to like watch my mom as she listened in too is like her reactions to certain things compared to like other people's reactions on the beta reading group too.

Speaker 2 8:57

So, yeah, yeah, well, and your mom was kind of nosy, right, I mean it's, we're being honest, right? What about you, annabelle? You were on most of those zooms. I should add real quick, if, if the folks couldn't be on the zoom live, we sort of had a kind of an unwritten rule that you had to watch the recorded session before you hopped on to the next live. So if you're listening to this episode and you're wondering how in the world did we heard all of these middle school cats together on a Zoom, you know, for two or three months? We never had, I think maybe once or twice we had almost everybody, um, but we, we got who we could get at the scheduled time and then folks would watch the recorded sessions later. So, annabelle, what was that all like for you?

Speaker 3 9:47

Yeah, well, as you said, I pretty much the first half of the book. I was just like watching the recordings the first half of the book I was just like watching the recordings, but that's right.

Speaker 3 9:58

That's right. Yeah, it was a lot of fun, like being able to be there, listening to you read it and also being able to give you our feedback. I feel like that's something that, like a lot of times, you wouldn't be able to do, but really being able to like know that we were impacting, like how it turned out. It was really cool.

Speaker 2 10:25

So so someone listening might hear that and wonder if that's hyperbole or, you know, if we're just sort of saying this for the show. But that's really true that you and you said it beautifully you, as my beta reading listening audience, had actual impact on the book, whether it's character names or plot ideas. Again to this reporter I was talking to earlier today. She asked kind of a similar question about what the process was like and if I really made some changes based on feedback and I said absolutely there were things that I improved and clarified based on the questions that you all asked. And I don't know if you remember, but when we finished the book at the very end that very last session, there were a couple of questions that were a little more direct and bold, which I very much appreciated. That really helped me. When I went through my first edit of the book, my first kind of full-length edit, some pretty important changes actually toward the end of the book happened as a result of very pointed questions that that you also boldly asked.

Speaker 2 11:38

Yeah, and I again I'll share a link to the article in the show notes for this episode, but I told this reporter that beta reading group and writing experience was the most meaningful of my professional career. I have not. I've not had a more meaningful, memorable maybe educational even for me as a writer experience in my career. It was. It was that much fun. I would love to do something like that again. Would the two of you participate in something like that again if we did it?

What's next for Jason?

Speaker 1 12:10

Of course I definitely would. So what's coming next?

Speaker 2 12:16

Oh, what is coming next? Well, you two can see because we're on Zoom. Obviously, those listening can't, but I'm sitting in front of a pile of books. So, scar Dakota, the hard covers, finally arrived after quite the journey around the world. So what's coming next is I am shipping out a lot of books. I am walking to and from. It's a good thing the post office is only about a block away, because I'm making lots of trips to the post office over the next week or two.

Speaker 2 12:49

But in terms of writing, should we make some new? Should I share something that I've not shared yet? Um, just today, like today, this very day I don't know when people are listening to this, but the day we're recording it. Um, cody, my wife and I signed a contract for a christmas jars craft and cookbook that will be out next year and it is celebrating the 20, 20 year, 20 year anniversary of the book, which is crazy to me. But this, this new project, will have craft ideas and a recipe, ideas for Christmas themed treats, and what makes the book kind of unique is that we're staying right on the cover. It will say that the recipes and ideas in this book are not for you. You may not make these things for yourself. The whole point of the book is that you make these treats and crafts and little holiday mementos for people in your life friends, neighbors, co-workers, people from church, whatever you want to do and that will be out I don't know, I'm guessing like the first week of October of 2025. So, super excited about that.

Speaker 2 14:08

That's kind of the main thing that I'll be diving into next and then, as the two of you alluded to at the beginning of our interview, I am taking on sort of I would say, in Annabelle's case, kind of a consulting role on Annabelle's manuscript, helping with edits, and it's fantastic and we won't give too much away here, but it is unbelievable. Annabelle is an unbelievably gifted writer. This project is super exciting and it's been fun to sort of help her and to watch as Annabelle. You have taken on more and more of the writing, the writing, and Miss Emma and I we have been through quite a few ideas and starts and stops and trying to figure out what we're going to do, but we landed on a certain Candy Mountain idea, I think, when I was out there, when I had an opportunity to spend a few days with the Worshke family in Washington state, and so we're, we're about to dive back into that idea.

Speaker 2 15:18

So that's what's coming next, along with my, my publicity and PR company, that I'm doing and I'm trying to help some other people get their books published through ink veins publishing, and I'm trying to, you know, raise a couple of kids still at home and remind my wife what my face looks like every now and again when I happen through the house. You know, just the usual.

Bonus Questions from Emma and Annabelle

Speaker 3 15:42

That's all so awesome, but since it's our show today, we have a couple of extra questions for you.

Speaker 2 15:52

Okay.

Speaker 3 15:53

I'll start off.

Speaker 2 15:55

Full disclosure audience audience. I have no idea what they're about to ask me no, you do not.

Speaker 3 16:00

I'm not sure. Even I do um. So, to start off with your new book, star dakota, what was your favorite part of the book to write?

Speaker 2 16:13

Oh, that is a tasty little question, annabelle. I would say a couple things. I love his first visit to the Hindu temple, when our main character goes with his Hindu neighbor and their kind of third best friend, inc, and the family goes off to visit this temple for the first time and it was one of my favorite to write. I spent a lot of time on that particular chapter and scene and then kind of linking to that. I knew when I wrote that I didn't necessarily know how the book was going to unfold from zoom session to zoom session, um, but I did know when I wrote that scene of their first visit to the temple that they would be back at the temple at the end of the book, that he would be back at the temple. I should say and I don't want to give too much away but when I actually cry, I actually cried when I wrote. I kind of cried through the last few chapters, to be honest, like it really gets. His little story just gets me every time, even though it came out of my head, it really gets me. But that particular scene when he goes back and reconnects in the temple there toward the end of the book, I just love that and I loved the scenes with the RIP YouTube crew.

Speaker 2 17:40

There's this group of kind of wannabe influencers in the book called RIP, r-a-p exclamation point and they make these kind of funny mostly harmless but not always prank videos and those scenes were really fun to write because I, um, I, I knew and, by the way, that was something that you all helped me with from your YouTube watching experience to make sure that I was getting that kind of thing Right. But I knew that would be, um, in a book that's kind of heavy. There are some, there's some pretty heavy scenes and scar goes through some pretty hard things. So, having those lighter scenes, those were fun to write to give the reader a little bit of a chance to breathe and laugh a little bit. Great question, annabelle. Great question. Can I ask, annabelle, what your favorite chapter in the book?

Speaker 3 18:26

is love. When scar first gets to his new home in utah, pretty much immediately how priya and kabir yeah and how, like from the very beginning, he's not completely alone and he has these friends yeah, that's, I'm glad you mentioned that.

Speaker 2 19:11

I love that too, that, that, um gosh, I just fell in love with priya in that opening scene and when folks read the book and and you get to that chapter, you'll know, because it's, she's just this. You know, the little sister that can be a little bit of a pest but it's just so adorable that you just want to, you just you'll want to talk to her all day because she's so entertaining. But yeah, I, I like that chapter too and I like that, that message that if we keep our eyes open, we're generally not alone very long. There are people out there that are ready to kind of pull us in and, yeah, be our friends. All right, miss Emma, what you got for me. You got a question for me.

Speaker 1 19:51

Is it fine if I have two questions?

Speaker 2 19:53

Oh my heavens Sure.

Speaker 1 19:56

Okay.

Speaker 2 20:07

So first, before the questions, I just want to say my mom cried at the end and through the book. Every time she's read it, hmm, well, your mom does have exceptional taste in middle grade fiction.

Speaker 1 20:15

Okay, now my two questions. Number one why did you pick like the Hindu religion to be so prominent in the book, especially nowadays when everything's so like, everyone's like, antagonistic, especially towards certain religious groups?

Speaker 2 20:35

Yeah, that is a great question and I'm glad you're asking it because I suspect that when I start visiting schools in the fall to talk about the book I'm going to be getting that question a lot. So I liked the idea that, first of all, for anyone listening, you know that Utah has a very predominant faith, and particularly in what's called Utah County, that area of Utah where Scar arrives to live with his grandparents, it's a very heavy faith influence, but he's not of the predominant faith. Scar kind of grew up in a kind of an unusual household with his mom and their faith in church going on a regular basis wasn't really a part of his life. So here he arrives in this deeply religious community where everybody seems to go to the same church, where everybody seems to go to the same church, and his best friend that he meets on day one, as Annabelle just reminded us, also isn't of that predominant faith. He's not a Christian, he's Hindu, very practicing and faithful Hindu with his family, and he looks very different too because his family's from India, so he doesn't look like anyone else in the neighborhood, he doesn't go to the same church as anyone else in the neighborhood and so you have these two kids that are sort of fish out of water a little bit that's what we might say in the fiction world. And their third best friend is a young lady we mentioned before. Her name is Ink, that's her nickname, and she is of the predominant faith of the community. So the idea of these three really different kids kind of coming together was really interesting to me.

Speaker 2 22:23

And there's some again, without giving too much away, some of the deities in the Hindu traditions. Those deities focus on some of the things that Scar needed to learn in terms of finding courage and forgiveness and healing, and so I just I liked the idea that this young man from North Carolina would land in this deeply Christian community of Highland Utah and, rather than the reader assuming that he's just going to get bombarded with the local faith and invitations to go to church five times a week, actually it's another kid who kind of sometimes feels out of place too, who is from India. So Hindus are the most wonderful, peaceful, kind, generous, graceful people. I know that both of your families, the whites in Jersey and the Wurskis in Washington State, have both been to visit Hindu temples in your respective parts of the world, and so you know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 23:33

There's just something really peaceful and lovely about their traditions, and I just thought that would be a really interesting juxtaposition to have Scar, our main character, kind of coming into this world and trying to navigate it. And as much as the book is about Scar I mean it's called Scar Dakota, it is his story obviously I thought it would be interesting if the other characters in the book also had some interesting elements to their lives as well and kind of their own story to tell Boy. That was a very long answer to a very simple question. Did that help?

Speaker 1 24:10

Yep. My second question is if you could meet anyone in the book who would you meet, and why?

Speaker 2 24:20

Oh man, that is a good question. I, oh boy. All right, you asked me two questions, so can I give two answers.

Speaker 1 24:32

Sure.

Speaker 2 24:33

To one question. I love Miss Stella. She is the guidance counselor in the book and a friend and a kind of a mentor, and I love her so much and I would love to meet her and talk about her journey to being a guidance counselor and some of the things she's experienced. And I just I wish that when I had been in the seventh grade, I wish I had had a Miss Stella in my life, and I really mean that Besides her, I would say, obviously any of the kids would be interesting to meet in the book the Rip kids, the YouTube wannabe kiddos would be interesting to meet. But I think Jeeps the grandpa that's his nickname, obviously A lot of nicknames in the book, but he goes by Jeeps I think he would be really fun to hang out with. He's just funny and silly and tells a lot of dad jokes, and I think he would be kind of fun to hang out with. I'm going to ask you, though, the same question both of you, emma who would you want to meet from the book?

Speaker 1 25:42

I would. You know probably all of the Provekers. They're super kind and just nice, especially like when you meet them in the book yeah, I love that.

Speaker 2 25:59

What about you, miss annabelle?

Speaker 3 26:01

I'm with you. Jeeps, for the record. I knew that you were going to say jeeps.

Speaker 2 26:07

I knew it yeah, jeeps was what jeeps was. My first thought, um, right off the bat, and and that will probably be my answer every time is Jeeps. But I have been thinking about Miss Stella a lot lately and what a and they're two such different characters, right, like they're so such different personalities. But but I think if people read the book and don't want to hang out with Jeeps, then there's something wrong with you, right, ladies? I mean, he's just so much fun. I love Jeeps.

Emma and Annabelle have questions for each other

Speaker 2 26:35

I think people will really like getting to know Jeeps and I think one of the one of the things about the book, one of the reasons that I guess I do like Jeeps so much, is we get a little deeper look at him. There's a grandmother, memes, who we get to know a little bit in the book, but Jeeps has a few more scenes with Scar, where we really get to see what it's like to be a grandparent who, in this case, jeeps loses his daughter at a pretty young age, and I don't know. There's something kind of interesting about how Jeeps is also learning to navigate grief, the way that young scar is. But okay, so before we go, and since this is still technically my podcast, I have an idea I would love for my two writing partners on literally opposite coasts of this beautiful country of ours to ask each other a question. So, emma, if you could ask annabelle anything about writing, about reading, um, what would you ask her?

Speaker 1 27:48

has there anything that's been significant, minor, but like when you were younger than the younger than the age you are now, or just this age? Has there anything that you've written independently, without anybody, like a poem or something?

Speaker 3 28:07

well, yeah, actually, um, just this year on my school computer I have like probably like seven on my school computer. I have like probably like seven drafts of books that are all like one to ten pages long. Yeah, I write a lot randomly and most of it never turns out well, or I just abandon it or have other things to do. But yeah, I love just writing basically anything that pops into my head, and now, working with Jason, it's forcing me to actually finish something.

Speaker 2 28:52

Yeah, that's, that's it and I'll pipe in and say she is a phenomenal writer, such a great writer, and we were having lots of fun learning about kind of the elements of pacing and storytelling and and word proximity and all kinds of fun stuff together.

Speaker 3 29:11

So, um, all right, annabelle, you could ask emma anything you want if you could choose any book that you want to have written, what would it be?

Speaker 1 29:26

oh, that's a good question no offense, jason, but definitely uh, a couple of Brandon Mull's books. I like those books yeah.

Speaker 2 29:41

Annabelle, I would give the same answer. I would love to have written any of his books. He is such a great writer and a pretty good guy too. That's a good question, All right, have we done all the damage we can possibly do today at the Book Drop Mike?

Speaker 1 29:57

All the damage we could possibly do. Yep.

Speaker 3 30:03

That's it. Thanks for joining us on this takeover episode of the Book Drop Mike. Jason said that we are legally obligated to tell you that you can pick up Scar Dakota on Amazon, deseret Books and Barnes Noble. And also don't forget that this episode is brought to you by Inkvane's, your Source for book publicity, promo and press releases.

Speaker 2 30:35

And I think I might be out of a job. Great job, ladies. I'm applauding wildly from my little home studio. Very well done. We're going to have you back on the show when each of your books are out. You will be back on the show as the guest and I get to be the host again. How's that sound?

Speaker 1 30:52

Okay, bye, bye.