Text [in Spanish]: The past 15 of June I had the opportunity to interview...

This Thursday on www.youtube.com.ruescasj my interview with John Green.

First I asked him various questions and later the Paper Towns TAG
This is how it went...

Javier: So what's the most difficult part when you are creating a new story.

John: I mean, the hardest part for me is getting a like... getting to the middle. If I can get to the middle and I still feel like I have some momentum then I'm usually OK, but if I get to page 60 and I find that I'm sort of losing a little bit of energy in the story and I don't really know what's going on, that's big trouble.

Javier: How does this enormous success affect you when you have to start a new story? Like right now.

John: I don't know yet, because I haven't finished a story since The Fault in Our Stars came out. 

Javier: but are you still writing? (? that's what the subs say but I can't hear)

John: I mean that's an interesting question because I feel very very grateful for the success of The Fault in Our Stars and now all my other books, uhm, it's always hard not to feel like people are looking over your shoulder when you're writing, like it's always hard to just be inside of the story and be alone in the story while you need to be. It has been harder for me the last couple of years. I don't know if that's because of what's happened with the books or if it's because of other things, but it's definitely something that I've struggled with, trying to figure out how to, you know uhm, how to get to a place where I feel like I'm just inside the world of the story and there are no distractions.

Javier: According to you, how do you manage to make something extraordinary from something like, so ordinary, like something that's not so important, but you make it?

John: Well I've never had big ideas. I always admire writers, like some of my favorite young adult writers have big ideas like you know, Suzanne Collins with The Hunger Games or Veronica Roth or Holly Black, or Tahereh Mafi, like they have big ideas like-- and whenever they tell me about their new ideas I'm always like, "Oh, that's so good! I want an idea like that!" but I only ever have like tiny ideas, you know? So I just kind of have to stitch them together into a larger story. I've just never been the kind of writer who um, thinks conceptually I guess or-- I have to think a little bit at a time.

Javier: One of our fans wrote a question for you, so "what would you say to someone who wants to become a writer?"

John: I would-- I guess two things. First, I would say read a lot. Read broadly. Read books that are great, read books that are terrible, read books, but especially read books that are being published now. If you want to be part of the contemporary conversation about books, you need to be, I think you need to be conscious of what people are writing now. Someone when I was starting out told me to-- that I should read the books that I wanted to sit next to on the bookshelf, and I've found that to be very helpful advice.

The second thing that I would say which seems obvious, but maybe it isn't, is like write a lot. Write and write and write and feel, and forgive yourself if you can't finish something and just keep going and keep trying to find your way into ideas and when you can get people to read what you've written, accept their criticism, you know, like listen to their criticism and acknowledge it and try to learn from it because you know, I mean I still delete most of my first drafts, and I've been doing this a long time. So I think you have to read a lot and write a lot.

Javier: OK. So now we're going to start with this tag.

John: OK, great.

Javier: So, fast questions and fast answers.

John: fast, fast, fast.

Javier: What state would you choose to disappear in?

John: Wait, start over, I'm not ready.

Javier: OK

John: OK, now I'm ready.

Javier: What place would you choose to disappear in?

John: Oh, uh, Reunion.

Javier: OK, with whom would you disappear?

John: My wife.

Javier: What clues would you leave behind?

John: What?

Javier: What kind of clues would you leave?

John: Oh! uh, well I don't think I would leave behind clues, because I would just want to be disappeared. But no mainly I would like to leave-- now this is not a short answer, you told me short answers and I'm giving you a long answer! I really like scavenger hunts so I would leave behind very complicated coded messages.

Javier: And who will go find you?

John: Oh, uhm... my brother.

Javier: OK.

John: Be a good YouTube series... this is a good idea for a YouTube series, you've given me a great idea.

Javier: how would you call your personal Paper Town?

John: Uhhhhm... Like, oh, gosh. uh, Orlando. The place I grew up.

Javier: Last one, what would you do the last night before disappearing?

John: Another great question! I don't think that I would go on a night of revenge the way Margo does. I might instead go on a night of expressing love and gratitude to all of those who have been uhm, great to me before disappearing from their lives forever. (they laugh)

Javier: Well, that's it, so thank you. Thank you very much.

John: Thank you! This has been such a pleasure to talk to you.

Text [in Spanish]: Share the link for this video with everyone on Twitter using #fansdejohngreen and @Javier_Ruescas I will raffle a signed copy of Ciudades de Papel.
* you have until Sunday the 5 of June 2015.

John: I think, I feel like the Spanish language Booktuber community is stronger than like the English one.

Javier: It's growing right now. In Mexico, it's getting... Spanish also.

John: Is that where it's growing really fast? I think it's great. I really want to see a world where like Booktubers can kind of become part of like the critical conversation around literature and lots of-- because like right now there seems to be a bit of a dearth of ways of making a living as a book critic. And maybe this is a way, I don't know. It's a ways away from happening but maybe.

Javier: Yeah, hope so.