Rami Ungar The Writer

Hey everyone! Did you miss me? I know I’ve been away for a bit, but I have a good excuse. I’ve been hard at work at a new story. And as of a little while, I finished it!

Blood and Paper Skin follows a bunch of young adults who go out one evening looking for some fun. Which swiftly turns for the worse when several of them wake up in a prison-like room, trapped by a middle-aged man who has a sinister purpose for them.

Ooh, I think I felt a chill run up my back!

And let me tell you, this was a fun story to write. For one thing, I got to include a lot of oddities from the real world in this story. For example, a major part of the story was inspired by an article I read about a house with an actual jail in the basement. Why was there a jail in the basement? Because it used to be the local jail, according to some (here’s an article about it if you’re curious). And would I buy it? Of course I would, if I had the money and it was a bit closer to where I live now. The possibilities I could get up to in that home are ENDLESS!

But that’s not the only thing from real life I put into the story. You see, a couple of months ago, I was driving home from my sister’s place after celebrating my birthday there. It was evening, I’m sitting at a stoplight waiting for the light to change, and I see a large white vehicle (I’m not sure what kind) pass through the intersection. And there are people hanging off the sides of the vehicle. Why are they there? Presumably, because there wasn’t room in the car and nobody else had a car.

Anyway, it was such an odd sight, that even as the light changed, I took my eyes off the road to see where that car was going. And it made such an impression on me, I wrote it down to remember so I could use it in a story someday. Which just so happened to be this story, the opening scene depicting a car with people hanging onto the sides because there’s no room in the car (in the story, it’s an older Chevy Tahoe).

Another interesting feature about this story was, despite its length (more on that in a bit), I didn’t write an outline for it. The vast majority of the story was already in my head before I started working on it, so I didn’t feel the need to write an outline. In some ways, it felt more like I was putting movie scenes down on paper for a novelization, with a bit of artistic flourish for the novelization reading crowd (not sure who reads novelizations, but I assume they enjoy a bit of artistic flourish in their books).

As for the word count, it’s a decent-sized novelette at 14,675 words across fifty pages. Which might make finding the story a home after it’s edited a bit difficult. Still, I think that there’s a place out there for it. And if I can’t find a home for Blood and Paper Skin, then I might put it out as an ebook exclusive. You never know. Just have to keep working hard and trying to get stories out there so people take notice.

For now though, I’m going to see if anyone wants to give it a read and critique it for me before I edit it. Gotta give it a good edit before I think of sending it anywhere.

And as for my next project…well, I’ll save that for a blog post tomorrow.

In the meantime, I’m heading to bed. It’s late, I’ve got a hell of a week to look forward to, and I’m going to need all the rest I can get.

Goodnight, my Followers of Fear. Stay safe, and until next time, pleasant nightmares.