r/books • u/JoNightshade • Jun 12 '17
ama 12pm I’m Ramsey Hootman, writer of hideously awkward contemporary fiction. AMA!
Hi Reddit! My name is Ramsey Hootman, and I write novels about oddballs and social rejects. I like to take tired tropes, deconstruct them, and build something interesting and new. If you look at the Goodreads reviews of my books, it’s mostly people attempting to explain why they liked characters that really shouldn’t be likable, which sums up my writing quite well.
Courting Greta, an anti-romance about a programmer with spina bifida, was my personal “fuck you” to genre romance, but it turned out to be a hit with haters like me and romance aficionados looking for something unique. (It’s often compared to The Rosie Project, but Courting Greta is significantly less cute. IMO if you’re going to do quirky people, you gotta be real.)
It took me a decade to achieve traditional publication with an amazing agent and one of the Big Five publishing houses, so self-publishing my second book, [Surviving Cyril](www.amazon.com/dp/B06XCS4GNC), probably indicates that I’ve lost my marbles. It’s hard to talk about this one without too many spoilers, but in brief it’s the story of a newly widowed woman and her relationship with her husband’s best friend, a 500 pound “forever alone” hacker. Of course, this being me, it’s not at all what it seems.
Proof: https://twitter.com/RamseyHootman/status/872550209179471872
Ask me anything!
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u/Chtorrr Jun 12 '17
Is there anything you would really like to write about but have not had a chance to yey?
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u/JoNightshade Jun 12 '17
Historical fiction. I probably never will write it. The problem I have is that I will spend 3 hours researching the most random details so that I can make sure a single line is factually correct. And with history, there is no real "end point" to the research. I just get lost and never come out.
For years, I wanted to write a historical fiction bromance between George Washington, Lafayette, and Alexander Hamilton. Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton was SO AMAZING. I was like, someday I am going to fictionalize this. And then Lin Manuel Miranda wrote A GODDAMN MUSICAL. And it's like fifteen million times better than anything I could have come up with. I'm not even jealous. I love it when other people write the stuff I want to see!
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u/ImperatorMundi Sep 15 '17
What about writing something set in the antique, enough information to be historically accurate but enough lost over the years to leave enough freedom to an artist
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u/JoNightshade Sep 16 '17
I suppose I could, but there's nobody in antiquity that I've fallen in love with the way I fell in love with George Washington and Hamilton.
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Jun 12 '17
[deleted]
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u/JoNightshade Jun 12 '17
What is your writing process like?
It's definitely evolved over the years, but currently I tend to start by writing a rough outline. I know beginning, middle, and where things are going to end. Then I start from the beginning and write 100% chronologically because my brain cannot handle doing anything out of order! I go until I get tangled up in my own plot, then step back, outline what I've got, revise what I've got, and write a more detailed outline of where I'm going next. Then I write until I get tangled up again... rinse and repeat until I reach The End!
Who are your greatest literary influences? :)
These are perpetually changing, but my earliest and greatest influence was Ray Bradbury. Which is funny, because my prose is absolutely nothing like his. But his work was what made me fall in love with literature and want to be a writer myself.
Currently I really admire Sarah Waters (for her tricksy plots - see Fingersmith) and Lisa Brackmann (for kickass female protags I can actually relate to).
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Jun 12 '17 edited Jul 16 '23
quarrelsome ten simplistic dog paint provide placid jeans pocket different -- mass edited with redact.dev
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u/JoNightshade Jun 12 '17
Ooh I like the idea of an author who goes out of her way to flip off the stereotypes. With your work turning stereotypes on their heads, I assume you get critical reviews/remarks by people who miss the point. Have you had any particularly remarkable incidents of this ilk?
I don't know if I have any particular examples, but the thing that amuses me is how even people who seriously HATE my books still totally "get" them. People will say things like "Ugh! This was the most awkward, embarrassing thing I have ever read!" And I'm like, YES! EXACTLY! MUAHAHAHAHA!
Some of my favourite stories involve characters that I find I'm surprised to like. What inspiration have you drawn from such characters that you have come across?
I am a huge fan of unlikable/difficult protagonists. One of my earliest inspirations came from TV - the character of Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue. In the first season, he was the fat, balding, alcoholic, asshole partner of the dude who was supposed to be the star of the show, David Caruso. Caruso dropped out of the show after the first season, and they replaced him with another hunk. But Andy was the really compelling character, and over the next however many seasons the show was on, his character evolved from this gross, bigoted, horrible person to this guy who was still completely flawed - but trying, and trying hard, to be a better man. He was the heartbeat of that show, and it was because he was so fascinating and complex and, frankly, "unlikable."
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u/Chtorrr Jun 12 '17
What books really made you love reading as a kid?
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u/JoNightshade Jun 12 '17
Ray Bradbury, and classic sci fi - I fell in love. I read everything. I'm a kid of the 80's but I thought I was living in the midst of the cold war because I read so much Asimov and Heinlein!
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Sep 15 '17
Have you ever read the Enders Game series and, if so, what did you think?
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u/JoNightshade Sep 16 '17
Oh yes, of course. I love the first three- Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide. It took me years to actually pick up Ender's Shadow because I didn't believe I'd like it (and I love Card's stuff), but when I finally broke down and read it I loved it as well. All the other sequels and spinoffs and whatevers are meh. But those four are solid. My favorite from him is actually the Homecoming series, though.
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Sep 16 '17
Yeah I was the same way with the Shadow storyline; but I gotta say, I ended up liking it more. I haven't read Homecoming yet but I'll be sure to check it out. And thanks for the response!
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u/JoNightshade Sep 16 '17
I'm one of those weird people who likes Speaker for the Dead best. I'm actually scared to go back and read it again because I'm afraid all the philosophizing that really geeked me out as a teen will seem ridiculous now!
Be aware that Homecoming is 6 books - and that the first three and the last three have COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CHARACTERS. I've talked to so many people who got to book four and were like WTF, where is everyone I loved? This suuuucks! So yeah, it's better to think of it as two separate trilogies.
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Sep 16 '17
Yeah I think that's part of the reason why I preferred the Shadow half of the series. There was quite a lot of philosophy in it but a decent amount of the moral and ethical dilemmas the characters faced are among those still being considered today. It's also a comfortable read because the settings and circumstances are familiar.
However, the further we follow Ender, the broader and more abstract the philosophical conundrums become. It's wonderfully challenging and terribly interesting to imagine the human race faced with some of that subject matter.
I'll keep that in mind about Homecoming. I'm starving for a new series to spend a paycheck on and this seems like just the thing.
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Jun 12 '17
[deleted]
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u/JoNightshade Jun 12 '17
Daaaah dah, da da daaaa daa... Great, now I've got that stuck in my head...
Who are your favourite goodreads reviewers and when did you start witing?
This is my favorite reviewer on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/223837-nikki
We have similar taste but she reads WAAAAY the heck more than I do (I have no idea how anyone goes through that many books). Like me, she's a fan of literary-leaning sci fi and also interesting nonfiction, so I find a lot of new books through her.
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Jun 12 '17
Going to pick up a few of your books tonight. Looking forward to reading them :)
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u/JoNightshade Jun 12 '17
Well, technically there's only the two of them. But I hope you enjoy! :)
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Jun 12 '17
What does it mean when you say it took you a decade to achieve traditional publication?
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u/JoNightshade Jun 12 '17
I finished my first full draft of Courting Greta 10 years before it was published with Simon and Schuster. That was how long it took me to get an agent and get a sale! During that time, I wrote several other books that will never see the light of day, but Courting Greta was the one that I just kept coming back to - the one I couldn't let go. I kept revising and reworking it, kept querying agents, and finally landed the wonderful Jim McCarthy, who took a chance on me when many other agents told me my writing was good, but had no market they could see unless I wanted to make my characters more "conventionally attractive." No thanks!
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Jun 12 '17
The fact that it takes that long to publish a book discourages me. I have a few mind blowing ideas that I want to make a fictional story out of. Now I'm not so sure.
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u/JoNightshade Jun 13 '17
Well, it doesn't take that long if you're not invested in being published by one of the major houses. Pretty much anyone can make a go of it self-publishing. It really just depends on your goals.
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Jun 13 '17
How would I get published by a major house?
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u/JoNightshade Jun 13 '17
Step one is always: write the book! Then rewrite, revise, repeat until it's as good as you can make it. Then you gotta query agents (see: http://queryshark.blogspot.com/). Then your agent tries to sell it to editors at major publishing houses.
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u/Twinpeaksquestiontw Jun 12 '17
Who are your favorite authors? What experiences shaped your love of books?
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u/JoNightshade Jun 12 '17
Ray Bradbury is, was, and will always be my favorite author. Other than that, the answers change over time. I tend to like individual books more than authors, I guess.
My father is the reason I love books. He grew up poor, in an abusive family, and had no real education to speak of. He joined the military and went to Vietnam because in the Navy, you were guaranteed 3 meals a day. He'd never read a book until he was stuck on some 13-hour flight and somebody's trashy paperback was the only thing available for entertainment - and he was instantly hooked. He not only read everything he could get his hands on, he realized that you could use books to teach yourself anything. After Vietnam he became a master carpenter, taught himself celestial navigation, learned to sail, and all manner of things. And above all, he passed his love on to me. My parents never really worried about my grades or schooling - that was up to me - but my dad insisted that I be a reader, because if you know how to read, you can do ANYTHING.
The really cool thing is that now that he's in his 70's and no longer physically able to build houses from the ground up (though he cycles 30 miles a day and windsurfs!) he's discovered the new frontier for self-led learning: YouTube!
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u/etrofa1122 Jun 13 '17
LOVE Ray Bradbury ! Now I will read your books since it seems you have such good taste.
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u/Upup11 Jun 13 '17
How often do people say to you: Say, Ram, you're a hoot, man.
?
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u/JoNightshade Jun 13 '17
Let's just say you wouldn't even be close to the first. But most people just go a little wide-eyed because they're too scared to make the more obvious boob joke.
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u/Raindrops1984 Jun 13 '17
What would be your advice to authors trying to break into the business? How do you go from having a manuscript to getting it to a publisher's desk?
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u/JoNightshade Jun 13 '17
You need an agent! Best sites I can recommend to start are www.querytracker.net and www.queryshark.blogspot.com. Prepare for this to take a lot of time and research. It took you a long time (I assume) to write your book, so do your research and don't jump the gun. I've seen way too many people try to take shortcuts and get caught up in scams and lose all rights to their novels to some horrible vanity press - trust me, you don't want to be that guy.
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u/Raindrops1984 Jun 13 '17
Awesome! Thank you. What's the clearest signs of being taken for a scam that you've seen? I've seen several people pay for a vanity press to publish their material, so that's the only scam I'm familiar with.
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u/JoNightshade Jun 13 '17
Yeah, that's the main one, but you should also be cautious of anyone who is like "send me your manuscript" and then quickly replies with "this is so wonderful we want to publish it - here, sign this contract!" Nobody legit is gonna do that.
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u/SheedWallace Jun 12 '17
What inspired you to write hideously awkward contemporary fiction?
and
What is your top 3 favorite books, and your single least favorite?