Name: James Ramos What you Write: Young adult fiction. Agent: Emily Forney! Why BookEnds? I’ve followed BookEnds for a long time on social media. The videos and the blog posts have been so insightful and so helpful and have helped me make sense of the publishing industry, and everyone seems so knowledgeable yet down to earth and genuine and passionate. It’s been a dream of mine to be a part of BookEnds for a while now, and I’m absolutely floored that I get to be a part of the BookEnds family.
What genres do you write? Read?
I’m always trying to write the book I want to read, so my work mostly follows my tastes in books. I read a ton of YA, be it contemporary, romance, sci-fi, or fantasy, but I’m a science-fiction junkie across the board for sure.
Plotter or pantster?
Plotter, definitely! Probably a little bit of an over-plotter to be honest. I try to make sure I have a viable story before I start writing because there’s nothing more disheartening than starting a project and getting 20,000 words in and realizing it isn’t working. At the same time though, there have been times where I just dove into a project without any idea where it was going, which is a rush, for sure, but I don’t ordinarily like to live that dangerously!
Synopses, love them or hate ‘em?
I used to hate them so much! I just couldn’t understand how to boil down something so complex and complicated as an entire book into a few pages without losing so many essential components. Now, though, I get it. They are still intimidating, but they’ve gotten easier with time and practice, and now I actually don’t mind writing synopses because they force me to think about and break down the book in its most basic and stripped-down form, and that helps me see things structurally that I may not notice when I’m deep in writing or revising. I try to have at least a loose synopsis before I really get into writing heavily for that reason.
Do you have a writing playlist or a vision board? If so, what’s on them?
I always soundtrack my projects. Music is a huge part of my process and helping myself get into the mood of the story and the minds of the characters. The playlists vary wildly from one project to the next, anything from synthwave to jazz to pop to oldies, anything that helps me capture what I’m hoping to put down on paper.
Drink of choice when writing? When not writing?
Coffee, coffee, and more coffee! The stronger the better!
Day or Night writer?
I’ve had to learn to be very pragmatic when it comes to writing, so I do it whenever and wherever I’m able to. When I’m able I try to start as early in the day as possible and work for as long as I can, which usually ends up being pretty late at night.
Twitter or Instagram? Or Facebook? Where can we find you?
I’m trying to be more active on Twitter, but I’m always on Instagram!
If you could meet any author, living or dead, who would you want to meet and why?
I would love to meet Frank Herbert. He was so knowledgeable about so many different things–ecology and language and science and anthropology and psychology, and he put so much of that into his work. I’d love to just listen to him talk about his work and his process. He was absolutely brilliant!
Where can readers find you on the web and social media?
I’m on Twitter and Instagram! My handle is @thejamesramos for both!
Name: James Ramos
What you Write: Young adult fiction.
Agent: Emily Forney!
Why BookEnds? I’ve followed BookEnds for a long time on social media. The videos and the blog posts have been so insightful and so helpful and have helped me make sense of the publishing industry, and everyone seems so knowledgeable yet down to earth and genuine and passionate. It’s been a dream of mine to be a part of BookEnds for a while now, and I’m absolutely floored that I get to be a part of the BookEnds family.
What genres do you write? Read?
I’m always trying to write the book I want to read, so my work mostly follows my tastes in books. I read a ton of YA, be it contemporary, romance, sci-fi, or fantasy, but I’m a science-fiction junkie across the board for sure.
Plotter or pantster?
Plotter, definitely! Probably a little bit of an over-plotter to be honest. I try to make sure I have a viable story before I start writing because there’s nothing more disheartening than starting a project and getting 20,000 words in and realizing it isn’t working. At the same time though, there have been times where I just dove into a project without any idea where it was going, which is a rush, for sure, but I don’t ordinarily like to live that dangerously!
Synopses, love them or hate ‘em?
I used to hate them so much! I just couldn’t understand how to boil down something so complex and complicated as an entire book into a few pages without losing so many essential components. Now, though, I get it. They are still intimidating, but they’ve gotten easier with time and practice, and now I actually don’t mind writing synopses because they force me to think about and break down the book in its most basic and stripped-down form, and that helps me see things structurally that I may not notice when I’m deep in writing or revising. I try to have at least a loose synopsis before I really get into writing heavily for that reason.
Do you have a writing playlist or a vision board? If so, what’s on them?
I always soundtrack my projects. Music is a huge part of my process and helping myself get into the mood of the story and the minds of the characters. The playlists vary wildly from one project to the next, anything from synthwave to jazz to pop to oldies, anything that helps me capture what I’m hoping to put down on paper.
Drink of choice when writing? When not writing?
Coffee, coffee, and more coffee! The stronger the better!
Day or Night writer?
I’ve had to learn to be very pragmatic when it comes to writing, so I do it whenever and wherever I’m able to. When I’m able I try to start as early in the day as possible and work for as long as I can, which usually ends up being pretty late at night.
Twitter or Instagram? Or Facebook? Where can we find you?
I’m trying to be more active on Twitter, but I’m always on Instagram!
If you could meet any author, living or dead, who would you want to meet and why?
I would love to meet Frank Herbert. He was so knowledgeable about so many different things–ecology and language and science and anthropology and psychology, and he put so much of that into his work. I’d love to just listen to him talk about his work and his process. He was absolutely brilliant!
Where can readers find you on the web and social media?
I’m on Twitter and Instagram! My handle is @thejamesramos for both!
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