It’s hard to mistake Hunter Ramey, she is striking, alive and excited about the craft of writing. The Observer contributor, and 19 year old Bachelor of Fine Arts UFV student has been writing a novel for the past ten years and has two separate pseudonyms to call her own.
Hunter’s dream one day is to be a full time writer, and she’s well on her way, as she candidly discussed her journey thus far.
“My degree at UFV is diverse — I can develop a wide range of skills, but mostly I’m concentrating on communications, branding, graphics, media, photography, writing and advertising.”
Hunter’s degree has given her some flexibility in that she has been able to hand pick a lot of her courses, and she’s tailoring it to her own specifications.
The multitalented student is also working on web development, so that she can create a blog and a website to brand and market herself.
“Graphic development is simplistic, with branding you want to make an impact with less words and convey a message quickly,” she said of the skills she’s learning as she traverses UFV campuses in Abbotsford and Mission.
Of her favourite courses, Hunter, stumbled upon Art History and fell in love with it, specifically one artist that she wrote an essay about — Artemisia Gentileschi a seventeenth century Italian baroque painter, renowned for being one of the first successful female artists (whose work was largely misinterpreted while she was alive, although she was eventually accepted into the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence).
Not unlike, Gentileschi, Hunter is also an artist and her speciality is human portraiture, a skill, she is getting markedly better at as time goes on, and she continues to hone her craft.
With her skills and interests she will be opening herself up to different markets, but she wants to create the type of online presence that will attract the attention of the right kind of people.
“Literary agents” she says with a smile.
The young writer plans to make a full time career out of the business of writing and has been working on a couple of novels.
She has two pseudonyms of polarizing personalities, who write for different genres, and engage in unique writing styles of their own.
The first one is Caitlin Avril, who writes romance, and typically in the Regency era. Avril’s work is meant to be lighthearted, fun, comical and romantic. She’s currently penning the novel “Passion’s Past”.
It’s about a stage actress who loses her memory (taking on her Regency character’s life from England in the 1800s). The heroine falls in love with her present day workaholic psychologist who is engaged to be married for a contemporary/historical romance complete with a zany love triangle.
“Avril is a bit of an airhead but she’s funny,” Hunter said of her playful pseudonym’s personality.
Courtney Heather Rane, on the other hand, Hunter’s second pseudonym is dark, introspective, intelligent and she focuses on world issues.
Rane is penning the novel The Shadow’s Calling that is about an empowering female character who takes up the sword for revenge.
“She’s a maiden that’s good at swordplay,” said Hunter of her main character, who could be compared to J.R.R. Tolkien’s empowered female elves, in Lord of the Rings, a big influence for Hunter.
Hunter wanted to create a strong female lead, and acknowledges that Hollywood is starting to get on board with powerful female leads.
“I was trying to write before I could read — I read a diary entry about The Shadow’s Calling that said “my first rough draft — it is near perfection,” she said. “That was ten years ago.” Hunter’s watched the novel and her characters grow and evolve over the years, a process that has echoed her own journey into adulthood.
The naturally shy introvert joined Chilliwack Toastmasters to overcome her fear of public speaking and to improve her skills in the presentation arena.
Hunter’s also taken over a public relations role with the group and she’s loving every minute of it.
“It’s really enjoyable and I’ve seen myself improve and be able to speak confidently in front of a crowd.”
As for seeing life from a different perspective, Hunter is on the photography scene, shooting musicians and concerts, and getting to know her Nikon D7100.
“They get better every time,” she says of her photographs. “I love to study people to observe them, and it’s interesting to view it from behind a lens.”
Creating a social media presence is where Hunter is at right now, taking to Facebook, and
Twitter to promote herself.
“I use Twitter because most literary agents are on Twitter, and it’s easier for connectivity than Facebook.”
Through it all the dedicated student holds down a part time job at Dragon Fried Rice House in Agassiz, and tries to keep a balance, which is no easy task when managing five courses.
“It’s all about time management and finding time to communicate with friends, it’s important to get out there, sometimes, and get away from the craziness of it all.”