Many students do have other tasks besides school which involves work, hangouts and clubs. But how does a published book sound? Yeah it’s pretty amazing.
Celeste Ramirez is a full-time student here on Fullerton and recently self published a book entitled,“Gaston’s Tale” earlier this year.
The story is a twist to the ever classic Beauty and the Beast but with the viewpoint coming from Gaston’s younger sister, Christine.
What’s the twist? Well, the story is surrounded to the idea that Gaston is actually the misunderstood character in this scenario other than the ruthless villain we are all so used to seeing.
Ramirez got her start a funny way, “My mom went and got a haircut and locked me in the car.” she said, ” she ended up taking forever and I got bored so I started writing ideas down.”
Ramirez says that she has developed many characters before, but the fact that Gaston is such an extraordinary character, she simply wasn’t sure how to write his perspective. Hence the idea of bringing in a sister.
“It’s one of those situations where you if you tried to describe yourself, how would you do it?,” Ramirez said, “Sometimes it’s easier to describe from a third person point of view than a first person point of view.“
But this story did not come without it’s faults. Ramirez stated that she has a total of five different manuscripts for “Gaston’s Tale.” Mostly do to the editors revival.
It all worked out in the end with her sending a manuscript to Olympia Publishing Company based in London who prides themselves on accepting progressive and independent writers throughout the globe.
The process though was terribly long, six months long.
“You send in, depending our your novel, part of your manuscript and you have to give them a month and if they like it, they will ask for your whole story,” Ramirez said.
She also emphasizes, if you don’t have an agent, it is not the end of the world. The trick being on how you present yourself and will to do the hard work of promoting and making quick decisions.
“It usually depends on the company you go with with. Sometimes you got to do the marketing yourself and will have to provide everything like illustrations. I just got really lucky that Olympia did most that work for me.”
Ramirez continues to represent Fullerton College by taking classes as she aspires to become a teacher while working on a children’s book.
Ramirez’s story is a great reminder to every college student that if you work hard and are will to push through, things will come to your favor.
As for advice to anyone who is looking towards becoming an author she encourages that whatever you do, it is OK to not succeed the first time around. It’s all about trial and error.
“It’s okay to get ‘no’s,'” Ramirez reassures, “You just got to go for it. Write down all your ideas on paper so you don’t forget. Just don’t give up. You have to keep going,” Ramirez said, “Whatever your talent is, just go for it.You don’t have to excel in school to be good at other things. Find what your good at and do it.”
Buy her book here https://olympiapublishers.com/shop/book/gastons-tale.